101 Ways To Show You Love Somebody
by Mimi-dudette
Summary: All this unrequited love stuff was getting kind of boring.' With the help of Kaoru and the internet, Hikaru is determined to win Haruhi over. HikaHaru, Hika/Kao/Haru Friendship, Please R&R! :3
1. The List

**Pairings: **Hikaru/Haruhi, Hikaru/Kaoru/Haruhi friendship

**A/N: **Sorry to the readers of my older stories but all of my stories are really depressing at the moment... And I really wanted to write some light so here you go :P Blame the plot bunnies. :D I've written most of the chapters already (apart from the next one but that shouldn't take too long as the chapters won't be long waffle like my other stories xD) so the updates will be pretty quick :D My first time writing Ouran so please tell me how you think I did! :D

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How do you let someone know you love them?

"_Sempai… he really is respectable. I wonder… if he wants to go back to France one day."_

How do you make them love you back?

"_Tamaki would never do that. He knows how hard it is to be separated from family. He just wanted to see it for yourself."_

How do you make them look at you and actually _see _you?

"_Oh, Tamaki… he's the most awesome person ever…"_

Okay maybe Haruhi hadn't ever actually said _that_,Hikaru relented, glaring abuse at the nearest wall. But she might as well.

The oldest Hitachiin twin was sitting sulkily in his and Kaoru's study while his twin took a bath; he kicked the desk moodily which made his leather office chair spin as he brooded over the day at the club.

The Host club had been as busy as ever as it now also consisted of both Chika and Satoshi since Huni and Mori had left for university.

Satoshi had eagerly took up Tamaki's impulsive offer and tried to fulfil his brother's footsteps with such enthusiasm he could often match their own hyper king. Chika had accepted less readily but eventually agreed to take up his brother's place (to beat Huni in designations or to stop Satoshi kicking him? We may never know.). His stoic appearance and secret love for all things cute gave him an obvious and moe-inducing appeal and the pair were an instant hit.

Hikaru himself was mostly indifferent to the pair, though Satoshi was cool. On occasion. And Chika was amazingly fun to tease.

In fact the twins had been doing just that ("Chika! Look behind you! It's Piyo!" "What? _Where_?!") when _it _had happened.

What is _it_, you ask?

_It _was the feeling Hikaru got when he looked behind him to find Tamaki enveloping Haruhi in a hug and the young brunette _not resisting_.

_It _was the horrifying realisation that Tamaki was far more shojo-manga-hero-ish than himself, and therefore, much more likely to get the girl.

_It _was the urge to punch his dear lord in the face.

Kaoru had tried his best to calm his twin down with observations such as '_We're always hugging Haruhi, it doesn't mean anything' _and_ '…Since when are we in a shojo manga…?' _but that weird feeling prodding his heart wouldn't listen.

He was jealous.

Again.

All this unrequited love stuff was getting kind of boring.

And since when did Hikaru Hitachiin settle for something if it bored him?

In a burst of determination, Hikaru span the chair again and jolted to a stop in front of his glowing computer, quickly switching on Google. He clicked the search bar with a flourish and let his hands hover millimetres over the keyboard.

He was going to search… for… uh… something that… girls liked... like… uh… chocolate! Yeah!

Feeling momentarily pleased with himself, he typed it in and banged a thumb down on the 'return' key. But before the results had even popped up (and the twins had a _really _fast computer) Hikaru had changed his mind irritably.

_Haruhi doesn't like chocolate… or sweet stuff… duh._

Suddenly stumped, Hikaru froze and racked his brains again. What else did girls like? (On reflection, Hikaru realized he should have thought about what _Haruhi _would like instead of clumping her with the rest of the girls at their school. It would've been way easier if he had taken into account Haruhi's un-girly-ness.)

Uh…

Toys?

Hikaru didn't even to search that one before he deleted it in annoyance. Haruhi and toys. No.

Getting amazingly annoyed and stubborn (perhaps just determined to find something cute Haruhi would like), Hikaru stabbed 'Flowers' into the keyboard, misspelling it twice in his impatience. But, once again, he gave up on it before the results even came up.

Sighing, Hikaru slumped against a fist.

Maybe he should just… give up on cute.

_Maybe she'd like a giant mushroom or something… _He mused, remembering how happy she became whenever she found something that could make a nice side dish; suddenly something caught his eye.

Curious, he looked properly at the 'related searches' section.

**101 ways to show you love somebody.**

Hikaru blinked. Huh. That could work.

Glancing around to make sure Kaoru wasn't spying on him (he'd never hear the end of it), he clicked it and watched as a list appeared. He scanned a few quickly, making sure he hadn't stumbled on a list of complete rubbish.

**Give or get a hug.**

**Make sure the other person feels important and respected.**

**Have your picture taken together.**

None of them seemed to require that much money, which threw Hikaru off for a second. It took a few moments before a brilliant realization came to him;

_This must be for commoners! _He stared in amazement. _The secret ways to make a commoner fall in love with you! Jackpot!_

Hikaru suddenly grinned like a maniac.

_Take _that _Tono!_

Elated, he crowned the list his new bible; he would complete as many as he could and then, at the end of the term, he'd tell Haruhi how he felt.

And she'd totally love him.

Hikaru smiled smugly and he copied the list into his documents.

He was a total genius.


	2. Bake A Cake

Hikaru wasn't sure what cakes had to do with making someone fall for you. In fact, he was pretty sure that Haruhi wouldn't even care for one, but as 'Bake a cake' was on the almighty-list-of-commoner-knowledge-and-lovey-dovey-stuff, he was determined to do it anyway.

He easily brushed aside the fact he had never baked a cake before in his life.

It couldn't be that hard.

He was a Hitachiin after all.

His plan was to get up really, _really _early, quickly bake the best cake the world had ever seen, show it off to Kaoru, then finally give it to Haruhi and watch her commoner instincts be _totally_ and _amazingly_ impressed.

He was such a genius.

It was 4:30 am and Hikaru had succeeded in waking up, getting dressed and sneaking out of his bedroom without his twin waking up, which was a feat in itself. Kaoru often switched from sleeping like a log to waking up at the tiniest noise and Hikaru didn't really feel like being laughed at; well, not until he had an amazing cake to show off anyway.

He had then jogged down a floor to the nearest kitchen which, luckily, was also the smallest (Hikaru would have undoubtedly been overwhelmed if he had gone to the main kitchen and seen all the cooking appliances they had stuffed into there; best to keep it basic). He knew a cook or maid or someone would be coming to cook the twin's breakfast here soon enough, but he was equally sure he had plenty of time alone in the kitchen before that happened.

They wouldn't start getting his breakfast ready till… uh… you know, whenever they started getting his breakfast ready.

_Whenever that is, I'll be done by then. _Hikaru assured himself, feeling very manly as he took a recipe book down from a shelf. _A cake can't take _that _long.

* * *

_

Kaoru was generally a very patient person.

He had to be to live with his beloved, short-tempered twin.

The youngest Hitachiin had been woken up at a _stupidly_ early time that morning to the sound of his brother swearing and hopping around the room. Kind of odd. Suspiciously, he had opened an eye to find Hikaru half-dressed and holding his foot comically, glaring viciously at a desk. Kaoru had decided to just pretend to be asleep and, after he had 'silently' finished getting dressed, Hikaru had slipped out of the room, muttering something to himself.

Kaoru was generally a very patient person.

If his brother wanted to sneak out of their room at a stupidly early time, that was up to him.

…

After ten minutes, Kaoru was getting annoyed at the muffled noises from the floor below.

After half an hour, Kaoru had been reduced to lying silently on his bed and listening for clues about what on earth Hikaru was doing in the second kitchen.

After almost an hour and a particularly loud bang (and a shout which sounded suspiciously like a swear), Kaoru kicked his cover off.

_What the heck is Hikaru doing?! _He fumed silently, quickly shrugging his green gown on. _And since when does Hikaru get up _early_?_

He was about to stomp out of their room to hunt his twin down when a sudden thought occurred to him; suddenly smirking evilly, he quickly skipped over to his bed again and grabbed a folded sheet of paper from under his pillow where he had hid it from Hikaru; he had almost forgotten about it.

He glanced at it and smirked again.

And Haruhi called him the innocent twin.

Careful not to wake any maids, Kaoru quietly padded across the hall (very much like a ninja he thought) and down a small set of stairs, carefully dodging a new vase that their mother had decided to plonk in the middle of a hallway; it made the hall look more interesting, or so she said anyway.

He heard another muffled yell, louder now and unmistakably from Hikaru's vulgar mouth, and he gripped the handle to the kitchen cautiously.

_1, 2, 3..._

Kaoru swung the door open (now seriously hoping it _was_ his brother and he hadn't made a dramatic, pyjama-clad entrance to a load of cooks) and was greeted by the biggest mess he had ever seen in his life.

Flour was absolutely everywhere. Empty egg boxes were ripped and thrown in a corner. About twenty bowls were scattered all across the worktops, all overflowing with various types of… gloop. Hikaru was standing firmly in the middle of it all (his school uniform also covered with flour) glaring viciously at an oven which, now Kaoru looked at it, seemed to be smoking slightly.

"Quit it!" Hikaru ordered the inanimate object angrily in a _whisper_-shout; he was apparently too wrapped up his work to notice his twin standing bemused at the door. "_Work_, damn you!"

_Is he…?_

Kaoru bit his lip, begging himself not to laugh. Suddenly freezing (twin-y senses?), Hikaru chose then to turn round in horror, noticing his brother framed in the doorway.

Kaoru couldn't help it.

The smudge of flour on Hikaru's nose was the last straw.

The younger twin dissolved into complete hysterics, holding the door for support and struggling to breathe through his laughter. Hikaru instantly reddened, feeling very slightly mortified that his twin had found him covered in flour and cake mix at whatever-o'clock in the morning (at this point of his plan, he expected to have an awesome cake to show off), and stuck his lip out in protest.

"_Kaoru…_"he whined, "w-when did you get there?"

But his brother hadn't recovered to the point of words yet and simply shook his head, trying half-heartedly to stifle his hoots with a fist. Hikaru's ears were now as red as his hair.

"Don't _laugh _at me!"

"Heh…aha… sorry, Hika… but seriously," he chuckled again. "You got up this early to make a _cake_?"

"Ah, err… I just…" _Quick Hikaru, think of an excuse! A good one! _"I just felt like it?" He answered, mentally cursing the way his statement rose in a question; and he couldn't lie to his twin _anyway_.

Kaoru's eyes twinkled in amusement again as he grinned. "Oh really?" He drawled, taking the paper from his pocket and holding it up. "So it wouldn't have _anything_ to do with this?"

For a second, Hikaru just stared blankly at him, so Kaoru (still grinning in his best Hitachiin manner) let it flop open to reveal what he had been amazingly amused to find in Hikaru's computer documents last night (not that he had been purposely looking, but when the idiot actually left it open when he took his turn in the bath, it was kind of hard to ignore; thus bringing the amount of time Hikaru actually kept his '101 ways to show you love someone' list a secret to a grand total of ten minutes).

The moment he recognized it, Hikaru's eyes widened in comic horror.

Without thinking, he instantly dived bodily for it (luckily, there wasn't anything bulky between them) but Kaoru, easily anticipating his impulsive brother's move, simply twitched it out of his reach and let him bang into him; if he had moved, Kaoru guessed Hikaru would've gone flying through the door and smashed his face right into their mother's new vase. Not a great idea.

Only pausing long enough to make sure Hikaru didn't fall over, Kaoru lightly stepped out of his brother's reach, smirking as he backtracked to the other side of the kitchen. Hikaru glared at him and pointed to the dubbed list of commoner knowledge irritably.

"W-where did you get that?!" He demanded, wondering wildly what had happened to his amazing plan.

"You mean your _love letter _to _Haruhi_?" Kaoru smirked again. "Well, if you're going to leave it on the computer screen while you take a bath…" He left the sentence hanging, leaving Hikaru to blink at his bad secret-keeping skills.

_The computer._

_Ah._

_Well, crap._

He suddenly got Kaoru's hidden implications in his first sentence and blushed furiously again. "Hey, I- I didn't _write_ it! I found it! On the internet!" He paused. "And who says it's for Haruhi?"

"What, are you secretly harboring feelings for Tono?"

"…Shut up."

"Exactly."

Kaoru's smile widened fondly as his twin uncharacteristically flushed.

"You're so cute, Hikaru." He laughed before glancing over the destroyed worktops and Hikaru's recipe book; on it (under the cake-y junk), he could see a picture of a stupidly perfect looking cake, complete with strawberries. "I don't think cooking's your forte though. Why a cake?"

"'Cause it's on the list." The older twin mumbled, trying to sneak closer to Kaoru without him noticing.

"But Haruhi doesn't really like sweet things."

A shrug. "It's on the list."

"So…?"

"It's on the list."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow sceptically at his brother's blind loyalty and gave the list in question a doubtful glance; in his mind, he was already splitting the _101 _items into '_do-able_' and '_un-do-able_'(and '_downright stupid'_; somehow, he didn't think his brother would be proposing marriage anytime soon). He suddenly noticed that Hikaru had shuffled right next to him and was eyeing the paper determinedly. Just as Hikaru's mind decided to dive, Kaoru quickly held the list out of his reach to which Hikaru stuck his lip out again in a sulk.

"_Kaoru..._" He whined for a second time, "Give it!"

"Nu-uh." Kaoru beamed at his annoyed twin (feeling unusually seme-ish). "Only if you let me play too."

Hikaru rose a suspicious eyebrow. "Eh?" He questioned, showing off his amazing intellect.

"What, were you planning to do this all by yourself?" Kaoru asked sceptically, as though Hikaru doing something so delicate by himself was an impossibility (the cake explosion around him had to agree). "I promise to help your attempts at _wooing_ Haruhi." Hikaru blushed furiously as Kaoru's smirk widened. "So, let me play too!"

Hikaru was just hesitating, half unsure whether he was still be made fun of or not, when a sudden scuffle outside the door caught both boys' attention. Instinctively, they both ducked so they were hidden by a worktop when the door swung open; a reaction born from too many food fights, too many guilty consciousness and the fact their past selves had found it _really_ fun to prank cooks who were _paid _not to get mad at you.

And they didn't really want to be caught red-handed at the scene of the… cake-bomb.

They held their breath as they heard a strangled gasp. For a second, the maid (or whoever had opened the door), just stuttered in horror.

"M…mice! In the kitchen! Raccoons! Vandals! _George_! Something's destroyed our kitchen!" (Hikaru mentally corrected her; _actually_, he thought, _it was kind of _their _kitchen._) "George, get over here! _What have you done to the kitchen?!_"

Feeling slightly sorry for whoever George was (like he could remember the names of all their servants), Hikaru glanced over the work surface to see the door swing as someone ran out of it. Feeling very much like a 10-year-old caught out in an elaborate prank again, he look over at Kaoru and mouthed _'Abort mission?_'.

Reminiscing as well, Kaoru nodded firmly and quickly crawled out of the back door; the moment the twins were out, they began to run back to their room, bolting from the scene of the crime (though, as Kaoru grumbled later, _he _didn't do anything).

Just as they collapsed back in their own bedroom again, giggling giddily, Hikaru's forgotten cake (which had been burning nicely in the oven since Kaoru had arrived) finally smoked enough to alert the fire alarms when the maid had unwittingly open the oven door (receiving a face full of smoke and an intense smell of burnt cake for her trouble).

The entire west wing went up in a piercing wail.

Kaoru winced.

He was never letting Hikaru go near an oven again.

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:3 Forgive me if you see Hikaru as a good cook. Ever since he commented that cookie dough was like mochi and tried to play with it while Haruhi cooked, I just.... don't. Sorry Hika :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) I've already written the next three chapters (I know. Me. Planning ahead. It's so strange.) so I'll update in a few days xD

Please review! If you do you can have some of Hikaru's cake! :D

... Well, maybe not. ¬.¬


	3. Hide A Love Note For The Other To Find

**A/N**: Ne, sorry this chapter isn't very long. -.- The next one is extra long to make up for it though :D  
Oh, and I have an announcement. Please ignore my prattle about being amazingly organized in the last chapter. That turned out to be a load of rubbish. D: I was numbering the chapters and planned chapters when I realized I had completely missed out chapter 10. Chapter 10 does not exist. T.T  
So! :D Instead of moving all the chapters down one to make up for it (which would be depressing! :O ) I have a teenie favor to ask of my beautiful readers. :3 If you review or PM me with an idea of one of the things that can be on Hikaru's list, I'll choose my favorite and turn into chapter 10. Badda boom! :D A dedication, if you will. Thank you again, my very patient readers! T.T

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**Hide a love note where the other will find it

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**

One Friday afternoon, Haruhi was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

No chores to get done, no dinner to prepare and no host club members begging to be told the secrets of commoner's instant coffee.

She'd forgotten how nice it was.

Sighing to herself, she settled down on her low sofa and curled her legs beneath her, much like a cat. She could go for a walk, though the sun would soon retire for the day, or she could start her weekend homework. _Well, _a lazy side of her spoke up, _I can do that later. Yeah, later..._

Even the host club had been easy today, with the guests too infected by the laid-back Friday air to squeal with moe and settled on chatting happily instead. And she only got dog-piled on once.

All in all, quite a good day.

Really, after being caught in the whirlwind of the host club for so long, she should know better than to think she could have an eventless day.

Haruhi was suddenly disturbed and yanked back into the weird world she lived in by a rattle of her letterbox, some quick, hushed voices and finally a scuffle of footsteps. Raising an eyebrow suspiciously, she peered round to find a thin white envelope sitting innocently by her door.

She probably should have ignored it.

She _really _should have ignored it.

But despite that nagging feeling, something made her march over to it and daintily pick up, flipping it over to reveal a name.

'_To Haruhi_' an all-too-familiar scrawl announced. She frowned, getting a bad feeling, and slowly took out the small letter. She recognised Kaoru's tiny writing instantly.

'_Dear Haruhi,_

_How are you? Missing us already? :3_

_Since it's nice out, we've decided to treat our favourite toy._

_Aren't you lucky, Haruhi!! ;D_

_But of course, you have to play a game before you get your treat._

_All you have to do is follow the clues and try to find us!_

_The first clue is outside! _[insert squiggly drawing of a door here]

_Happy Hunting! _

_XD_

_Love your two best friends,_

_Kaoru and Hikaru_

_x'_

Haruhi sighed after she'd read it, wondering how these weird ideas managed to crop up so often. They really expected her to run round after them just because they were bored?

"It's too bothersome." She muttered to herself, easily thinking of more productive ways to spend her time. She still had homework to do after all.

She was halfway to her school bag, perfectly happy with ignoring the twins' weird note, when something suddenly caught her eye. The feeling of dread returning, she realised there was more written on the back, this time in Hikaru's hurried scrawl. Sighing again, she began to read:

'_I know what you're thinking._

'_That's too bothersome!' _

_You're so boring, Haruhi! -.-_

_So, just to make sure you play, we have a back-up plan! :D_

_Go and look in your school bag.'_

Haruhi paused to glance uneasily at her bag; there didn't _look _like there was anything different about it… But as she turned her attention back to the note, her eyes widened in horror.

'_That's right, Haruhi, we have your homework._

_All of it._

_So play or the homework gets it!_

_:3_

_See you later, Haru! ;D'_

For a few seconds, Haruhi just stared at the note. Then she read it again. Then again. Then she checked her schoolbag. Then she read the second note again. Then the first note again.

Then she twitched.

_I'm going to kill them.

* * *

_

'Love note'? xD Pretty please review :3


	4. Watch The Sunset Together

**Watch the Sunset together

* * *

**

Haruhi was in a bad mood.

Not only had her homework been _abducted_ by the twins, but their annoying notes had led her around the block _three times _before she finally had to go _all the way_ to the supermarket (several times she had considered quitting, but the thought of hitting a certain pair of doppelgangers around the head was a great motivation). However, when she had got there she was greeted by one of the Hitachiin butlers (well, she assumed it was from the sign he was holding with 'Here's the last clue, Haru!' written on it; and yes, he was getting more than his fair share of weird looks) who promptly told her that the twins were all the way back at her apartment, waiting for her _on the roof_.

And it didn't take a scholarship to realise her roof would be a perfect place for, say, watching someone run round the block three times.

_I'm going to kill them. _She grumbled to herself, not for first time that day.

When she had finally got back to her apartment, she glanced around then quickly marched around the back, where there was a set of rickety stairs that led to the roof. She trod quietly and firmly, not the least bit phased by how narrow the stairs were when they were so high or by the fact they seemed to creak dangerously with every step. And at the top, sure enough, Haruhi found Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, the soon-to-be-dead twins.

However they were not, as she had expected, smirking at her having watched her almost-jog back from the supermarket; in fact she seemed to have walked in on some sort of deep conversation. They hadn't even noticed her.

They were sitting so they faced each other, so close that Hikaru would just have to shift forward to be sitting in Kaoru's lap. Kaoru was smiling kindly and muttering something too low for Haruhi to hear while Hikaru was frowning, looking uncharacteristically awkward as he propped his head up with a fist.

Usually, Haruhi would have realised that something was wrong.

Usually, Haruhi would have asked what was wrong.

Usually, Haruhi would be worried that Hikaru looked so worried.

But Haruhi was in a bad mood.

So, she walked right up to them and punched them both in the head.

"_Oww!_"

"_Oww!_"

"You rich bastards!" Haruhi yelled, glaring at them. They had apparently noticed her (no kidding) and were now staring up at her with identical expressions of bewilderment, as though they had forgotten where they were. "If you want to annoy me just knock the door! Or just don't visit me at all! I've spent half an hour looking for you!"

They blinked at her outburst and for a second, neither said anything.

Hikaru was the first one to crack. A slow grin began to spread over his face and suddenly he was laughing uncontrollably, clutching his sides. Haruhi frowned as Kaoru joined him in his sudden burst of hysteria and was about to demand what was so funny, when identical hands grabbed her, pulling her down into a pile of limbs with a small gasp.

"Aw, Haruhi…" They cooed as one, capturing her between them. "You're so cute!"

"Give it up." She managed to grumble, trying to detangle herself or at least get _upright_. "And give me my homework!"

They both chuckled, amused.

"All in good time, Haruhi." Kaoru teased, golden eyes twinkling.

"Don't you want your treat?" Hikaru added snickering, not wrapping his limbs around Haruhi as tight as he used to; he was determined not to blush.

Haruhi gave them both a scathing look. "Not really. It's going to get dark in a bit."

"That's kind of-"

"-the point."

They grinned and chorused together; "Silly Haru!"

The brunette sighed; if they had gotten to the point of finishing each other's sentences, there really was no hope. She paused and waited for the revealing of their grand plan but the twins had gotten comfortable cuddling next to her and stayed happily silent, content to just to sit there. She sighed once again and finally settled down for the wait, knowing better than to try to escape or demand for her homework back.

And, if she was completely honest to herself, she didn't mind it as much as she thought she would.

She felt almost comfortable.

Almost.

"Kaoru, if you hold any tighter, you're going to suffocate me."

"Ne, sorry Haruhi."

The younger twin distractedly moved his arms from her neck to her waist, not loosing his hold on the only girl the twins really cared about; once upon a time, Kaoru himself had felt something for her, but it had been undeveloped love, still a tiny bud.

Easy to crush and give up on for his dear brother.

Another train of thought threatened to appear but Kaoru promptly ignored it and buried his face in Haruhi's short, soft hair. He glanced over at his twin.

"_This is a waste of time, Kaoru."_

"_Why'd you say that, Hikaru?"_

"_Because…" Blush. "It just is!"_

"_You doubt your own charm?" Kaoru tried teasing but Hikaru's face stayed miserable. He shifted closer. "Hikaru?"_

"…"

Haruhi glanced over at the older twin. He seemed to be in a world of his own, a tentatively fond smile playing across his lips as he twirled a strand of her hair between his fingers. A sudden thought came to her and she glanced between them again, a frown appearing.

"What were you two talking about before?"

"Eh?" Hikaru blinked comically, apparently waking up from his daydream.

"Before I came. You both looked unusually serious."

"Heh… uh…" Hikaru glanced over at his brother quickly, weirdly flustered. "We were… talking about nothing."

"Nothing." Haruhi stated, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

"Yeah." Kaoru grinned, bringing himself into the conversation. "We always look serious when we talk about nothing! Nothing is a very serious topic."

"…"

"Oh? You look disbelieving, Haruhi."

_Why even try to understand? _"Whatever."

Kaoru suddenly seemed to notice something and quickly shifted a bit so he could poke his twin with his toe. "Haru! Your treat's starting!"

"Huh?"

Identical Cheshire-cat grins spread over the twin's faces as they pointed to the horizon with a grand flourish. "Ta-dah!" They yelled, sounding amazingly chuffed with themselves.

Haruhi looked up uncertainly. She was expecting something stupid and expensive, like a hot air balloon. Or a jet plane. Heck, she wouldn't have been surprised to look up and see a bunch of flamingos fly past.

So, she looked up and strained her eyes to see what her friends had wasted their millions on this time, but… there didn't seem to be anything there.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"_That_!" Hikaru.

"…What?"

"_That_." Kaoru.

"…What?"

"Jeeze." Hikaru turned to glare at her. "It only takes up the whole freaking sky! _That!_" He added with an impatient point.

"…"

"…"

"…Huh?"

Hikaru turned to glare at her with irritation again but this time Kaoru took her chin and turned it so she was staring straight ahead. "That." He mumbled into her ear as she looked franticly for some sign of a giant hot air balloon. "The sunset, dummy."

"The sunset?"

And, sure enough, the sun was beginning to dip into the horizon, making a fringe of orange light. As she watched, the sun fell lower and the orange light began to mix with the pink of the afternoon sky, spreading warm hues over the usually grey buildings.

For a second, Haruhi just stared.

Then she turned to the twins with a completely dead-pan look.

"You dragged me around half the estate to look at the _sunset_?"

They both gave her a just-kicked-a-puppy look, looking completely thrown off that she wasn't gasping in amazement.

"You don't like it, Haru?" They asked together, sticking their bottom lips out in sync.

She sighed. "Guys, I often watch the sunset. And I can see it fine from my own apartment. You really could have just knocked the door."

As you might be able to tell, Haruhi really wasn't a fan of running around.

For a second, the two mulled this over, then, almost creepily in time, a grin lit up their faces again.

"Ah, but Haru-"

"It's a better view-"

"From up here."

The grins turned into smirks.

"And you looked really cute-"

"Running around in a circle."

_I knew they were watching me._ Haruhi glared at them, easily guessing why they were getting so hyped up by the dancing colours their everyday sun provided.

"I bet you two never stop to look at the sunset, do you?"

"Uh…no."

"How'd you guess, Haruhi?"

Haruhi rolled her eyes and looked back at the sun, which had sneaked down even more while they'd talked. It wasn't like she didn't like the sunset. She did. She was the type to love the average, natural beauties around her and whenever it seemed nice, she liked to try and make time to catch a glimpse of the setting sun.

Without meaning to, she found herself settling down for the second time; the twins instantly caught the change and quickly cuddled her tighter, catching her in their web of limbs (and yes, Hikaru blushed). For a second, they just looked at her, watching the orange and pink blush reflect in her huge, attentive eyes.

They smiled happily.

Haruhi blinked as something papery fluttered into her lap.

"Your homework." Hikaru breathed into her ear. "For being such a good toy."

Haruhi paused and, (to the twins' absolute delight) instead of running away, she simply set the homework in front of her and mumbled a quick 'thank-you' before relaxing and willingly watching the day end with her 'favourite' twins.

However, less to the twins' delight, Haruhi then flat-out refused to let them sleep over when they suddenly decided it would be a good idea.

Sigh.

* * *

I hope you liked :D And hope it wasn't too cheesey, thought I admit the concept is xD Unless the world likes cheesiness? O.o

Please Review! -Throws flowers- :D


	5. Find Out What Makes The Other Happy

**Find Out What Makes Each Other Happy

* * *

**

_Bearing in mind that X=42..._

"Haruhi..."

…_and Y=21..._

"Ha-ru-_hiiiiiiiii…"_

…_answer the following questions…_

"_Haru-_"

"What do you want, Hikaru?" Haruhi finally gave in and glared at the boy who had been leaning on her for the last ten minutes as she fruitlessly tried to do her homework. He lolled over her with a tragic look, one hand in midst of messing with her hair; this treatment was nothing unusual.

"I'm _bored_."

"Well, find a book to amuse yourself with. We _are_ in a library."

He pulled a face. "I don't feel like reading. Anyway, looking for a book's boring too. Kaoru's been looking for _ten minutes_!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes.

"Oh, the horror." She muttered before turning her attention back to more interesting matters; namely, her maths homework. However, she found herself muddled after being distracted and had to re-read.

_Bearing in mind that X=42..._

Frowning at her weird, homework-fuelled attitude, Hikaru grandly let himself fall into the opposite seat and propped his head up with a fist; why was Kaoru taking so long? His eyes began to wander out of boredom and he suddenly found himself staring straight at Haruhi as she worked; his eyes studied her face greedily.

Her working expression wasn't as blank as he once marked it out to be; he watched with a small smirk as her brow crinkled slightly as she stared intensely at the question, then, the answer having apparently revealed itself to her, her face relaxed as she jotted it down, as though a small triumph had been won. However, the triumph never lasted long as the frown made itself known again, when she moved onto the next mystery.

She seemed to be quite enjoying herself.

Hikaru tried not to laugh.

She was so damn cute… _ah_!

Trying to distract himself from the blush suddenly crawling over his face, he quickly thought back to his list, trying to remember which one he had set himself for the day.

"Eh...Ha-Haruhi." He began, not used to being so flustered; what happened to being the confident and flirty twin who thought nothing of eating a cookie out of Haruhi's mouth? Long gone, apparently. Sigh. "Can I ask you something?"

She didn't even look up, too absorbed in an equation.

"About maths, Hikaru?" She muttered, distractedly. "I thought you'd already done this."

"Not about the _homework."_

"…oh…"

Scribble, scribble.

Hikaru paused to sigh in irritation. If it was any other girl, Hikaru was sure he'd capture their attention more than algebra, but no, he _had _to fall for Haruhi, the hormone-less homework lover.

"What makes you happy?"

"Doing my homework in peace." She replied in monotone, not even missing a beat.

"No-_ooo_." Hikaru whined in frustration, spreading his hand firmly over her work. "_Seriously_."

"Seriously?" Haruhi parroted, looking up at Hikaru and raising an eyebrow. Now there was a word she could rarely associate with the Host club. "I don't know. Cooking, I guess?"

"Like, doing your Mom's recipes and stuff?"

"Yeah. Why the sudden interest?"

"What? Can't I be _innocently _curious to what makes our toy happy?"

"With you, not really." Hikaru replied with a huge pout. "And I'm not your _toy_."

"_Fine_." Hikaru sighed and looked at Haruhi as though she was the most unreasonable person in the world. "You're just our Haruhi then."

She sighed and pried his hand off her homework, conscious that she only had a tiny amount of work to show for twenty minutes in the library; _and _lunch was almost over. She didn't bother to retort that she didn't belong to _anyone _as she found that she weirdly didn't care enough to.

It wasn't as if belonging to something was the worst thing in the world.

Then again, it was the _twins_ she was talking about here.

"I don't belong to anyone." She confirmed, to which he just sulked.

After a few minutes, where Hikaru finally shut himself up and let Haruhi get some work done (he was going through a cycle of staring at Haruhi, blushing, looking for Kaoru, then looking back at Haruhi again; it was keeping him entertained so Haruhi was content to ignore his lingering looks), he finally jerked his head up with a triumphant 'Aha!'.

Haruhi glanced up at him as he stared at the librarian's desk.

"Kaoru's finally checking out his books!" He told her, eyes still locked on his twin.

She watched as Hikaru's emotions took over his face one by one; first he looked triumphant (with what?), then he looked confused, then suspicious, then downright irritated.

"What the hell? He's just standing there chatting to the librarian! I swear he just looked over at us too." He paused before adding, as though it was the oddest thing in the world: "Who _talks_ to the librarians?"

_Kaoru, apparently. _Haruhi thought to herself. _And most of the other normal people in here._

Hikaru made to get up when he looked at Haruhi and blinked, a flush tingeing his ears. "Wh-what?"

Haruhi suddenly realized that, instead at looking at Kaoru's 'odd' behaviour, she had simply been looking at Hikaru's reactions flickering across his golden eyes. Snapping herself out of it, she quickly looked down at her work and began scooping it into her bag.

"Nothing, I was just thinking. We should get to lesson, it'll start soon."

And with that, she hastily started walking to the exit, only pausing at Hikaru's frantic '_Wait, wait!_'.

When Kaoru had finally ambled over and cheerfully greeted his annoyed twin ("Kaoruuu! Haruhi and I were bored. You took ages!" "That I did, Hikaru, that I did." "…Huh?"), the three of them made their way towards their class; Hikaru claimed Haruhi's right side and Kaoru claimed her left.

Haruhi began thinking back to Hikaru's strange question as she listened and occasionally laughed at the strange observations Hikaru and Kaoru felt the need to make about the world around them as they walked ("Hey, that cloud looks like Tono's head!" "No it doesn't." "Yeah it does, look; it even has a cloud mushroom on his head!" "That looks nothing like Tono! It looks like Kyouya eating an ice cream! _Duh._").

"_What makes you happy?"_

She smiled softly.

_I guess I feel pretty happy right now._

"It just looks like a cloud, guys."

* * *

Merry Christmas! :D I hope you like this chapter! ^^

Reviews are love! :3


	6. Hold Hands

**Hold hands**

* * *

"_Ne, Hikaru. Do this one, this one's cute."_

"_Huh? What one?"_

"'_Hold hands'."_

"_Hold…Ha-Haruhi's hand?"_

"_Nah, Mori's."_

"_So, Haruhi's hand."_

"_No duh, Sherlock."_

Hikaru frowned to himself. Holding hands. It wasn't as easy as Kaoru had said.

_I mean, _he reasoned to himself, _a hand is a lot of skin. It's not like throwing an arm round her. Holdings hands means… skin touching skin. Palms touching palms. Fingers touching fingers. It's like… _intimate_._

Hikaru suddenly blushed scarlet, wondering madly how he could make holding hands sound so damn _wrong_.

The Host club (minus Satoshi and Chika) were walking lazily through the lush university grounds, heading for the point where they were going to meet up with Huni and Mori, for the simple reason that they hadn't for a while (they didn't go to the same campus but Mori seemed happy to drive over). Though none of them were sporting coats, it was the first chilly, autumn day of the year and golden leaves crackled under each footfall.

Kaoru had 'subtly' left Hikaru and Haruhi alone by prying Tamaki away and involving both him and Kyouya in an in-depth conversation of what universities they were going to themselves.

Haruhi hadn't noticed and was busy watching stray leaves dance lazily in the wind, feeling in a unusually happy mood.

Hikaru _had_ noticed and was busy having a heated and rather pointless internal monologue.

In other words, he was arguing with himself.

_Holding hands, it's no big deal._

_Exactly._

_Though if she looks before I hold her hand… I'll look a bit of moron._

_But I could bluff my way out of it._

_But she'll think I'm a moron. And maybe she'll never speak to me again!_

_Don't be stupid!_

_Ever!!_

_If I can't even do this, Kaoru'll never let me hear the end of it!_

_Good point._

_Thank you._

"Hikaru?" Haruhi spoke up suddenly, making Hikaru jump back to life (he had just been musing whether he was getting too much into this internal debate thing).

"Ah? Eh, yeah Haruhi?" He spluttered, trying to remind himself where he was.

"Why are you glaring at your hand?"

"Eh? I am?"

"For the last five minutes."

"Oh…Err…" Hikaru shifted awkwardly, glancing at Haruhi's sceptical face. "No… reason…"

Haruhi rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Right."

She smiled then looked again over the well-tended campus; she was in an unusually light and care-free mood. It was the start of autumn, her favourite season, and tomorrow (a Saturday) her father was taking a day-off, just for the two of them.

There hadn't even been any club that day and instead of last lesson (with a particularly strict teacher) their teacher was absent so she, Hikaru and Kaoru had piled into the library and squashed into a huge armchair, where they'd chatted and laughed in low voices.

She had discovered that, despite everything, the twins actually read a lot and they spent the hour discussing which books they liked and sharing their - mostly controversial - views.

It had been nice.

So yes, Haruhi was in a good mood.

"Your hand looks cold, Haruhi." Hikaru suddenly informed her, in a burst of determination.

The girl blinked, waking herself up, and looked down at the hand in question with a raised eyebrow. "Does it?"

"Yeah." Hikaru said firmly. "Really, really cold."

"Eh... It doesn't _feel_ that cold…"

Hikaru gave her a short look (which said; _Well, it _is_ cold._) then suddenly reached out and covered her hand with his, entwining their fingers so their hands were securely clasped together. The sudden warmth was a shock and sent a spark skipping along her arm.

Haruhi blinked at him, her stride faltering for a second as he mumbled something along the lines of '_I better keep it warm…_', a warm flush darkening his ears.

For a second she just stared.

Then the corner of her mouth twitched.

"Now you mention it, my hand was feeling a bit cold." She noted, trying to sound nonchalant (and _not_ teasing). "Thanks, Hikaru."

"No problem…"

For some reason, the usually stoic brunette couldn't help but find the whole thing amazingly amusing. She secured her small hand to his and the blush finally broke the floodgates (his… err… ears) and suddenly his whole face seemed to be scarlet.

"What would I do without you?"

"…have…cold hands…"

Haruhi snorted (yeah, Haruhi didn't _giggle_; she _snorted_) and, ahead of them, Kaoru tried to stifle a snigger (no, he hadn't been eavesdropping…). Instantly horrified with himself, Hikaru's blush finally surpassed the colour of his hair, which was a sight to see.

_Damn it. _He growled to himself. He _really_ needed to re-introduce his brain and his mouth to each other.

"Sh-shut up…" he managed to mutter to Haruhi's muffled laughs (he luckily didn't spot Kaoru trying not to laugh at him).

"Heh… Sorry Hika-"

"_Stop it!_"

"Yeah…"

"Don't _'yeah' _me."

"Sorry, sorry."

_God, she's so obviously trying not to start laughing again._

Hikaru scowled and turned away, red from 1. Embarrassment. 2. Annoyance. 3. How cute Haruhi looked when she laughed. _Damn it._

But the scowl soon fell away to a soft smile as he felt the tender warmth of Haruhi's hand in his. He was suddenly filled with an increasing giddiness (a quick recovery…) and happily swung their hands between them, their hands reaching higher and higher with every swing.

Haruhi let out a short laugh, causing Hikaru's grin to widen happily.

Kaoru, sneaking a look at the two over his shoulder, had to bite his lip to stop from laughing at the truly goofy look on his brother's face. How he managed to be so innocent yet so _not-innocent _was beyond him. _I guess it's just one of those 'Hikaru' things. _He mused to himself.

Then something strange happened.

As Kaoru looked at his brother and his best friend holding hands, he was overcome with a strange urge. To join them. To link hands with them too. Not particularly with Hikaru, nor particularly with Haruhi. Just with _them_.

So it would all three of them linked again, like that Halloween night when they managed to dance together, all three of them clumsily linked and happily spinning Haruhi between them to cover it up whenever she failed at a move (which had been quite often).

But that was stupid.

Because it wasn't like that anymore.

He wanted his dear Hikaru to learn to accept the world and let himself love someone who'll accept all his flaws and know how wonderful he is.

He wanted Haruhi to have someone to confide in completely, someone who wouldn't mind if she needed to collapse completely into their arms.

He wanted himself to grow up. Just grow up.

Change was good. It was what he wanted more than anything. Right.

That was all there was to it.

Right.

He blinked and mentally shook himself furiously and dismissively; what was he going _on_ about? _Seriously, I really think too much._

He started as Hikaru suddenly noticed his lingering look and stared back, with a look he half translated as;

_What's up?_

And half translated as;

_Look, look! I'm holding Haruhi's hand!_

The younger Hitachiin merely replied with a soft smile and a casual wink.

_Nothing, nothing._

_And I noticed. Way to go, Romeo._

Hikaru grinned goofily again (Haruhi noticed but simply accepted that he seemed to beaming weirdly to himself; it was just one of those 'Hikaru' things, she reasoned).

Kaoru turned and suddenly noticed that Tamaki was also glancing at the pair, looking suspicious. The youngest twin was just getting ready to rugby tackle him (just in case he tried to intervene) when the blonde surprised him by simply slinking over to Kyouya, pouting.

"Mommy…" He whined, giving the two another suspicious glare (which they seemed thankfully oblivious to). "A hormonal teenager is trying to hit on our pure and naive daughter!"

Without bothering to point out the obvious flaws in Tamaki's logic, Kyouya cast a bored glance behind him.

"Seems innocent enough." He reasoned, clearly not interested in the least (Kaoru tried fruitlessly to cover up a snort of laughter).

"But…but…" Tamaki spluttered and glanced desperately behind him again; this time, you could _see_ the urge to jump between them flickering behind his eyes. "It's _hand holding_! Skin touching skin! It's… _intimate_."

_Intimate?_

Kaoru rolled his eyes.

_Honestly_.That was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.

* * *

Poor Hika. Even Kaoru doubts his logic xD Hope you like this chapter :P And I hope you all had a good Holiday! :D

**Pretty please review! :3**

And before I forget; I want to say thankyou to **'HxH 4eva'** (an awesome name...) who reviews every chapter but I can't reply to because the reviews are annonymous. Thankyou so much for all your support :D And well done for knowing it was Kaoru who mentioned Kyouya xD Thankyou again! This chapter is dedicated to you ;)


	7. Be Best Friends

**Be Best Friends**

There was something Haruhi was beginning to notice.

At the host club, Haruhi was always surrounded by so many people she didn't know nor care who was around her.

But during school, she always knew.

Hikaru would always be on her right and Kaoru would always be flanking her left, both laughing and joking and draping their limbs around her lovingly. Eventually, she found it odd if she glanced round to find the twins not invading her privacy.

Which was really worrying, when she stopped to think about it.

There were a couple of minutes before lesson, so the trio were sitting diligently at their desks, scribbling the last bits of their homework.

Haruhi didn't need to glance at them to know that Hikaru, on her right, would be going through Kaoru's physics homework while Kaoru, on her left, would be checking Hikaru's modern literature essay.

"Can neither of you just do your homework by yourself?" She muttered as she glanced over her own homework.

She didn't need to look to see the identical smirks spreading across their lips.

Haruhi couldn't understand why it took so long for people to even begin to tell the twins apart; Tamaki had just about got it. To her, it was obvious who was who.

Kaoru was the one who understood people's feelings easily while Hikaru was the one who tried and tried, but found it hard to understand much more than his brother.

Hikaru was the one to jump up and act out whatever extremes he was feeling while Kaoru was the one who had a degree of self-control.

Kaoru was the one who was always on her left while Hikaru was always on her right.

Haruhi sighed and tapped the desk with her pen in boredom, glancing up at the clock; still a few minutes to go. Why could teachers never be early?

Hikaru and Kaoru didn't need to look to know what Haruhi was thinking.

Without taking his eyes off Kaoru's work, Hikaru kicked his desk over to Haruhi's and then drug his chair next to her.

"Haruhiiii..." He grinned as he dropped Kaoru's work over half of her homework. "I don't know if the last question's right or not; will you check it?"

Kaoru pretended to frown at Hikaru's essay as he shuffled his chair next to Haruhi's desk and covered the rest of her work with the essay.

"Hey Haruuu…" He said in an almost sing-song voice. "Does this sentence make sense?"

Sometimes, Haruhi couldn't tell whether the twins were embracing the wider world, or she herself was just being sucked into theirs.

She really should care more, she mused to herself as she glanced to her right, then her left.

When she only replied to their whines with a 'quit-being-a-bother' look, Hikaru stuck his tongue out childishly and draped an arm over her head. She expected Kaoru's arm to mimic his twin's, for his actions were always a second later, but Kaoru just sat there, smirking softly. After a second, Hikaru's arm stiffened and he removed it, slightly pink and muttering something about 'idiot brothers'.

Kaoru sniggered.

As the teacher walked in, Haruhi tried to block out incident with her usual attitude but for some reason, Hikaru's arm kept cropping up in her mind. It wasn't like they never did things like that; it was rare for her to survive a week without getting nearly suffocated from a twin related incident (hugging, squashing, getting piled on… the list was endless). She set to her note-taking with an unusual vigour and completely ignored Hikaru when she felt him staring at her pitifully for help when he'd gotten lost in the lecture.

He'd been zoning out more often lately. She'd been noticing more often lately.

Luckily for Hikaru, after the lecture and after Kaoru had finished laughing at his scruffy notes ("Were you _distracted_,Hikaru?"), Haruhi and Kaoru promised to let him copy their notes down at lunch and the three of them set off for their next lesson.

Haruhi looked to the right and saw Hikaru. She looked to the left and saw Kaoru.

To her, it was obvious who was who.

Kaoru was the one who had began to forget things more and more, leaving the other two on their own to wait for him.

Hikaru was the one who had began to surprise her more and more, and she suddenly didn't really mind waiting with him.

* * *

Sorry for the annoyingly rapid and short update... but I couldn't help it D: You guys are so amazing. I got **7** reviews for my last chapter, which is the most I've ever gotton.** I love you all so much :D** I seriously wanted to marry everyone who had read and reviewed, I was so happy xD

**... You know, in a not-creepy-spread-the-love sort of way. :)**

Anyhoo, I hope you don't mind the short chapter. X.x I kinda like this chapter. XP

**Pretty please reveiw! -throws roses- xD**


	8. Phone Each Other

**Talk On The Telephone**

* * *

_Beep beep_

"Ne, that's your phone, Hikaru."

_Beep beep_

"I can't be bothered to get it. It's probably just Tono anyway."

_Beep beep_

"It's annoying!"

_Beep beep_

"_You_ pick it up then!"

_Beep beep_

"It's closer to you. And it's _your_ phone!"

_Beep beep_

"What a pain…"

Finally, Hikaru managed to drag himself up enough to make a grab for his phone, jabbing the receive button irritably and pulling his earphone out. Both Hitachiin twins had been sprawled lazily across their bed in various stages of homework, sharing an I-pod and only talking to confirm an answer or laugh at their own choice of music.

Kaoru watched as Hikaru grumbled into the phone; if it was Tono with another of his stupid plans, they were _so_ not doing it. It was too much of a…do-nothing day. Anyway, it was Sunday. Wasn't that like, the day of rest?

Suddenly Hikaru blinked in surprise, the beginnings of a smile tugging at his lips. "Haruhi?"

"_Eh_?"

With a surprising amount of energy for one preaching about the day of rest, Kaoru jumped up and practically attacked Hikaru's shoulder, leaning over to listen to Haruhi's slow response.

"Uh, yeah. How are you, Hikaru?"

Apparently, the older twin was still too surprised that she had called (since when did Haruhi _call _people?) and couldn't manage more than; "Fine."

Pause.

"Uh, how are you, Haruhi?"

"Fine."

Pause.

Kaoru flicked his brother's forehead.

"_Ow!_"

"Huh? What's wrong, Hikaru?"

"Ah, uh, nothing!" He turned to glare momentarily at his brother. "Was there anything you needed, Haruhi?"

"No, not really… Sorry, are you busy?"

"No, no!" Kaoru smothered a laugh at Hikaru's frantic response. "It's just, uh… you usually never call… we always have to call you. And then you don't even answer the phone."

"You can't blame me… and I don't really know why I called. I guess I don't have anything else to do."

"Oh?"

"I've done my homework, cleaned my room and the living room _and_ the kitchen and dad wants takeaway tonight so I can't prepare anything and-"

"Alright! Jeeze, do you have to go through _all _of that before you even think of calling?" Hikaru frowned at the phone. "What am I, a last resort?"

"Pretty much."

"That's_ so mean, Haruhiiii!_"

"You're higher up the list than Tamaki-sempai."

"Yeah, but he's so annoying that that isn't even a compliment."

"I suppose…"

Pause.

Kaoru, deciding they had killed the conversation long enough, plonked his head on Hikaru's other shoulder so he could whisper into his ear. "_Ask Haruhi what she's doing today._"

"What are you doing today?" Hikaru faithfully parroted.

"Like I said, nothing really. I suppose I could visit the library or something…"

"Yeah…"

Pause.

_Oh, come on. _Kaoru raised his eyes at whatever Manga God was watching over them. _Do I have to do _everything _around here?_

"_Ask Haruhi on a date._" He hissed into his ear.

"HUH?!"

Hikaru whipped his head round to stare at Kaoru, a blush warming his ears, but he just received a solid glare back. He could read it easily. _Take her out or I'm seriously going to punch you._

Over the phone, Haruhi sighed again at Hikaru's outburst. "What's wrong this time?"

"Ah! Uh! Nothing! I just wondered …uh, do you… w-would you…um…"

Kaoru lent back, slapping his palm against his forehead; _I give up. _

Hikaru meanwhile, bit his lip; it wasn't like him to be tongue-tied and awkward. This flustered emotion was so new to him that he fell into it completely, the flushed affection rolling around inside him unceasingly. But he did _want _to go out on a date with her! He did! _And_, he realized with a surge of determination, _I can tick something off the list!_

He tried again, with all the confidence of a true Hitachiin. "You wanna go on a date with me, then?"

She paused. "That doesn't mean running around supermarkets again, does it?" Haruhi asked hesitantly.

"Err, no. We'll find something fun to do!"

"Fun as in…"

"Come on, Haruhi, don't be such a killjoy. I'm bored!"

"You being bored never bodes well. Anyway, where's Kaoru?"

"Err…" Hikaru didn't even need to glance round to know that Kaoru (who had sidled back to eavesdrop again) was glaring at him, daring him to say anything else. "Kaoru's…with Mom! Yeah! She has this presentation coming up so Kaoru's gone to help."

"Why didn't you go?"

"I had homework!"

"But you're finished now?"

"Uh…yeah!" He glanced uncaringly at his half-completed essay. "All done!"

"Well, okay…where did you want to go then?"

_Ah, crap._

"We'll…improvise! It's the best way to do things!"

"Sure it is, Hikaru."

"So, I'll pick you up in about an hour then! Byeeeee!"

Haruhi sighed and he could just imagine her worn-down expression; hopefully not wishing she had never rung. "Fine, fine. See you later."

Hikaru quickly terminated the call and turned to his twin, a puppy style grin plastered over his face. "I'm picking Haruhi up in an hour!" He announced, as though Kaoru hadn't been sitting next to him the whole time and practically set up the whole date.

Kaoru snorted. "Congratulations."

He smirked as Hikaru jumped up in a bound of energy and began franticly stuffing his homework away, realizing that, at the leisurely pace he and his twin usually took, less than an hour to get ready _really_ wasn't enough time. His smirk softened in fondness momentarily before he fell back and went back to lazing around.

Now that the drama had passed he might read something. Or paint. Something relaxing he couldn't do with Hikaru hanging over his shoulder and begging for help on an essay.

It was the day of rest after all.

-35 minutes later-

"Wah! Kaoru, what do I _wear?!_"

"What are you, a girl? _Just choose something already!_"

Some day of rest this was.

* * *

Sorry for the really lame ending :P I just had an image of Hikaru spending ages getting ready and Haruhi spending about two seconds XD I couldn't help it :P

Please review! :D I've re-written the next chapter twice but I still don't like it so I might write it again :S If it takes a bit longer to appear, I apologise T.T

**Happy New Year everyone! :D**


	9. Share Your Plans For The Future

Share Your Plans For The Future

* * *

"Hey, Haruhi, what's this?" Hikaru questioned in wonder, shoving a box at her.

Haruhi blinked at it before, sighing, she shrugged dismissively in response.

"_That doesn't mean running around supermarkets again, does it?"_

"_Err, no. We'll find something fun to do!"_

So, what did they end up doing?

A theme park? Dinner?

No.

Hikaru and Haruhi spent the whole of their date running around a supermarket.

Or, to be more precise, a shopping mall.

"_Look Haruhi! They have a special market on! We have to go!"_

"_There's nothing there that would interest you, Hikaru."_

"_But it's special for _commoners_! Don't you want to go?"_

"_I went yesterday."_

"_Cool! You can show me around!"_

"_..."_

"_Commoner market, commoner market!"_

_And then he started singing about looking at all the 'mass production' and Haruhi knew there was no stopping him._

After Haruhi had been dragged around every floor ("Quit pulling, Hikaru!"), Hikaru had put several clothes he deemed Haruhi would look cute in on order ("_Kawai_!!") and they had re-fuelled at a fast food restaurant ("Wow, it's all so _greasy_! Cool!"), they had finally got the market itself.

It was much like the last market Haruhi had been to, with lanes of stores that filled the whole of the main hall. Bright colours and giddy shouts flowed from every stand and Haruhi found she couldn't help being sucked in as she looked at all the unusual merchandise.

Hikaru however, despite the singing, the pleading and the hyper-ness, soon found himself growing bored.

_Where're all the weird commoner foods and mass production clothes?! _He whined to himself._ This is all_ boring _stuff._

Being insanely rich and used to it, he found himself totally uninterested in the make-your-life-easier things around him unless they were weird enough to catch his eye. Which none of them were.

_Why would I want to buy_ that_?_ He repeatedly thought stubbornly, as store owners shoved items under their noses. _I have a maid. In fact, I have a_ lot _of maids._

He did however, have a good stab at being a gentleman, and when Haruhi lingered to look at some half-price rice cookers he only whined once and simply hovered around her until she let him hunt out something more interesting.

In fact, the only thing that _really_ caught his eye was something Haruhi wished _didn't_.

"Omigod!" He suddenly yelled loudly (Haruhi winced), a beam breaking over his face. "Haruhi, look, _look_!"

She turned round to tell him to... well... shut up, but when she looked, Hikaru had already disappeared, simply a spot of red making (pushing) his way through the crowd. She sighed dramatically before finally dragging her feet after him.

Not really to her surprise, she finally spotted him standing in front of a stand covered in strikingly dyed clothes like he owned the place, giving the whole store a critical look.

"What are you doing, Hikaru?"

He looked down at her indignantly, thrusting a point towards an elegantly draped manikin before him. "That!" He fumed, his earlier smile having fallen away to a pout. "It's one of mom's designs!"

Haruhi blinked in surprise and finally looked up at it.

_It's a dress._

Being as indifferent to fashion as she was, that was the only amount of observation she would have spared it, if it wasn't for the oldest Hitachiin staring pointedly at it next her.

Haruhi tried again.

_It's a nice colour. Very... exotic. And the design... is.... casual. But not too casual. _

_..._

_It looks expensive._

"It's nice." She stated politely.

"No, it's not!"

"... Huh?" She turned and gave the oldest twin a completely blank stare, confusion written all over her face. "You don't like your mother's design?"

"No!" he paused, frowning. "I mean, I do but... no!"

"... If you're not going to make sense..."

"No, I am making sense!" He protested with dramatic pout, brow knitted in frustration. "I like the _design_, but I don't like _that_."

_Oh, yeah. Because that's perfect sense._

"Any reason? Or do you just feel like being difficult?" Haruhi deadpanned back, her mind beginning to wonder onto more important matters (like food).

Sparing her an irritated glance, he suddenly wildly threw an arm in its direction (almost hitting the rather worried looking store-keeper while he was at it), feeling very passionate about it after a whole _ten minutes_ of rice cooker induced boredom.

"It's fake!" He announced in his loudest and most _obnoxious_ voice. "Can't commoners make their _own_ designs?" he added in an abhorrent drawl, making Haruhi blink and (ignoring that last ignorant comment) look back the design in question.

"It is?" She stated, blankly. "How can you tell?"

"Because." He sighed spectacularly as he gave it a critical look, apparently oblivious to the crowd of curious ears scattered around them. "The colour is way off; they've _obviously_ just got some cheap substitute. And you can actually _see_ the stitching around the hem; like mom would let _that_ through."

He seemed quite pleased with his analysis and was now going on about the fact it was a fake again in an obviously loud voice, as if he was trying to see if something interesting would happen if he could get the whole market to know about his discovery.

_So.... stitching and colour? That makes it a fake_? She glanced over it again. _But... It's still wearable. What's the big deal?_

She would have pointed this out, but one look at Hikaru's indignant face put her off.

_Rich people really don't like forgeries. _Haruhi mused to herself, glancing around. Or maybe it was just her friends, showing off all the things they knew. Kyouya did much the same thing, to stop that woman buying a fake, and now Hikaru was loudly pointing out the fact the dress was a mere _copy_ of his mother's design.

As when Kyouya had decided to show off his immense knowledge, Hikaru had drawn a crowd, all of whom were whispering excitedly to each other and glaring at the flustered store owner.

"Is it really a fake?"

"What a con-artist! I was looking at it as well."

"However can that young man tell though?"

"We should have this stand closed down!"

"Did he say Mrs. Hitachiin was his mother? My word…"

"It's obviously a fake if you look at it. Piece of cheap trash."

"Do you think he's telling the truth? He's handsome too…"

"I wonder if he's single…"

"But who's that girl? I hope she's not _with_ him…"

Haruhi winced at the crowds wound-up hissing, weirdly annoyed at that last comment; honestly, didn't they have anything _better_ to do? Still, Hikaru seemed to have succeeded in thrashing the stand's reputation and was getting a lot of admiring and appreciating looks while he was at it. It could have been a very Kyouya-like situation if it wasn't for one tiny little detail.

It wasn't Kyouya.

It was Hikaru.

So naturally, he ruined it in a single sentence.

"I mean, seriously," he went on rudely, picking suspiciously at what might have been a _loose thread _(oh, the horror). "You commoners are so _stupid_; you'll fall for _anything_."

Suddenly, the Hitachiin seemed to be getting a lot of glares.

"Oh God…" Haruhi sighed exasperatedly and grabbed his wrist, pulling him away from the crowd who looked suspiciously _vulture_-like. When they had escaped and rounded a corner into another lane of stands (a group of annoyingly dolled-up, giggling girls seemed to have followed but there wasn't really anything she could do about that) Haruhi finally turned on him. "_Why_ did you have to say that?"

Hikaru however, was just blankly staring at her hand, looking amazed; she sighed and removed it, causing him to jump back to life, lost.

"E-eh? What?"

"You could have just left it; did you _have_ to insult everyone around you?"

"Oh, that." A shrug. "I just said what I was thinking."

"You could think about what you're saying a bit more next time."

Unfortunately, Hikaru didn't seem to think that insulting the whole convention was that big of a deal and responded with an exaggerated eye-roll. "Whatever you say, Miss Blunt-and-oblivious." He sneered.

Haruhi was about to retort back when Hikaru's attention span failed again and he started looking over at the commoner 'wonders' around him.

"Whoa, look, look!" He chirped excitedly, finally finding a store 'interesting' enough. "There're some commoner sweets from _England_! For _English_ commoners!" He added, as though living across the sea made you a different species (Haruhi sighed). "Let's go look, Haruhi!"

She made a mumbled half-protest as she slowly followed the oldest twin to the stall, musing that it had been way easier controlling Kyouya; at least _he_ didn't run around with the mental age of a five-year-old and the dirty mouth of a stereotypical teenager (minus swear words; Hikaru had vowed not to swear _at all _but he 'luckily' had other ways of insulting people).

As Hikaru laughed about how weird the merchandise looked and how he bet they would taste _mega_-cheap (with the store-owner only a few feet away), Haruhi cast a bored look over the '_Freddy_'s and old fashioned sugar mice. Huh. Huni would probably love one of those.

"Haruhi, look at this!"

She glanced over (wondering whether they would have time to go grocery shopping) to see Hikaru staring in puzzlement at a skinny brown can.

"'Cold-hot chocolate'." He read, a frown coming over his face. "What does that even _mean_? How can a hot chocolate be _cold_? Then it's a _cold chocolate_! Haruhiiii, it doesn't make sense!" He whined childishly, thrusting the can in her direction, a ghost of a smirk behind his face.

"It's just a marketing gimmick, Hikaru."

"Make it make sense!" He added, almost laughing at the dead-pan look on Haruhi's face.

She rolled her eyes. "You're so childish." She sighed, as though this fact hadn't been apparent since the twins spent the whole of their first lesson with her as 'co-workers' drawing smiley faces all over her work. "You tire me out."

He stuck his tongue out, as if to illustrate her point.

"The alternative is boring." He stated in a drawl, as though Haruhi was an idiot for not realising this, before going back to glaring at the can. "I have a whole life to act _serious_."

As he went off on another rant about the mystery of the cold-hot chocolate, Haruhi considered his words, cocking her head slightly. She really couldn't imagine the oldest twin in a serious business meeting. But he and Kaoru were taking over a whole company.

That was a lot of pressure, when you thought about it.

Haruhi paused, thinking back to the _only-a-copy-of-a-Hitachiin-design _incident. "You and Kaoru are taking up your mother's fashion company, aren't you?" She asked softly. "Are you happy about that?"

Hikaru glanced over, looking sincerely surprised.

"Course I am." he said, as though it was the simplest thing in the world. A grin suddenly lit up his face and he laughed, ruffling her hair teasingly with one hand. "Don't think like that, Haru. I'm not being forced into it, like, say… what they tried to do to Huni. I love spending time Kaoru designing clothes. We have a whole room with clothes that we made, just us two." His smile turned fond and happy. "You'll have to come and model for us some time." He added, smirking.

At the pure genuineness of Hikaru's smile, and the fact he looked past the boring meetings for the enjoyment of being with his twin, doing something they loved, Haruhi couldn't help but smile back, feeling mildly surprised; she didn't think the twins were already making their own designs.

Not that there a chance in hell that she was willingly going to _model_ for them.

"Are you any good?"

He scoffed. "Duh. We're awesome. Kaoru's the best though." He sounded almost proud as he thought about his twin. "He's really good at the little details and stuff. I guess I'm better at the number side of it though."

He paused thoughtfully, still getting annoyed looks from the store-owner as he messed with the can of cold-hot chocolate distractedly. Haruhi felt like laughing; he may have some serious flaws, he there was no denying how much he cared for his brother.

It was almost sweet.

"Sounds like you two make a good team."

Hikaru blinked and looked over at her with wide-eyes, looking child-like. Then a happy, far-away beam broke over his face. "Yeah…"

"I hate to break this up," The chubby store-keeper suddenly snapped, looking red-faced; he pointed irritably the drink. "But, _are you going to buy that_?"

Hikaru jumped and quickly glared at the man, obviously not accustomed to workers who would actually _shout _at him.

"Yeah, whatever." He muttered, digging in his pocket to find some money and flicking a note over to him, still looking annoyed. "And don't forget the change." He added with an _innocent_ smile as the man looked in pure horror at the crisp $50 note; the can only cost 90p.

He finally shuffled off, muttering darkly to himself.

"And you, Haruhi." Hikaru went on dismissively, as though they hadn't been interrupted (Haruhi felt sorry for the clerk, who was painstakingly counting out the exact change).

"And I what…?" she mumbled in reply, sighing as the man dropped some coins and cursed.

"You'll make an amazing lawyer. I can tell."

Haruhi blinked. "Oh really…?" She drawled, slightly sceptical.

"Yup." He grinned. "In fact, you can be our lawyer! The official Hitachiin lawyer."

"I don't think I'll be able to do that…"

"Well… We'll get a lawyer from whatever company you're working for. That'll be like we're paying you, won't it?"

"Not really."

"Uh." He paused to frown for a second, mulling it over. "Then… I'll give you a hug before every case, for good luck!" he announced, brightening up as though this was the genius, perfect solution.

Haruhi eye-rolled exasperatedly, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Whatever you say." She replied, surprised at the stubbornness of her small smile; it stayed fixed on her face as she looked at him and it took about 3 seconds for Hikaru to notice how cute it was and blush madly.

"Heh…" he mumbled, grinning and glancing over at the store clerk as he stomped back over.

Without a word, the red-faced man dropped the money irritability into Hikaru's outstretched hand and slammed the can down in front of them.

"Enjoy." He growled through a rather scary-looking forced smile.

"Will do." Hikaru smirked, thoroughly amused as he quickly pocketed his change.

Then, in one swift movement, he grabbed the can, flicked it open and took a swing.

"How's it taste?" Haruhi asked, not really interested but feeling it was compulsory of her to ask as he paused to consider the flavour.

"Eh… weird. Like commoner coffee and chocolate milkshake gone wrong." Hikaru paused and looked at it almost thoughtfully before randomly taking another drink.

Haruhi rolled her eyes again. "If it tastes weird, why are you still drinking it? I doubt it's just to not waste it."

He smirked impishly, swirling it so the brown liquid sloshed about. "It's also weirdly addicting. Here." he added, holding it out firmly. "You try it too."

Raising a hesitant eyebrow, she slowly took the can from him and considered it for a second before taking a shallow drink. _Ugh. _It tasted of watered-down cream and sugar, with an almost over-powering tang of cheap malt chocolate.

It was pretty nasty.

She was about to say so and wonder aloud why both of the twins liked to buy things just because they looked weird, when a sudden thought occurred to her as she remembered something from one Mei's magazines that she had been forced to read.

"Huh." She stated nonchalantly, looking back at the rim of the can. "Indirect kiss."

Totally casual, Haruhi then pressed the can back into Hikaru's hand and proceeded to walk off to the next stall, where there was some weirdly shaped jewellery.

She seemed totally oblivious to the fact Hikaru had turned an interesting shade of burgundy and was trying (and failing) not to choke.

* * *

I don't like this chapter. At all. It sucks, in my opinion. -.- I'm sorry D: I promise the next will be better .

And thankyou so much again to everyone for reviewed! :D The amount of support you guys give for my neh story is amazing :D You guys officially rock. :P Happy new year everyone! :D

**Reveiws are love :P**


	10. Kiss When Other People Aren't Looking

**Kiss when people aren't looking**

* * *

Hikaru was so obvious.

You didn't even need to be his twin to know what he was thinking.

_Well_, Kaoru mused, glancing mutely over at his brother who seemed to be in deep thought. _Unless your name is Haruhi, that is. But she's oblivious personified, so she doesn't count._

Once upon a time, the twins had been so in sync that no-one could tell what Hikaru was thinking... mostly because no-one could actually tell who Hikaru was, even if they talked to the pair for hours on end.

But when Hikaru trusted you enough to be his real self around you, he was the most obvious person in the world.

Just to prove his point to himself, Kaoru settled back with his Nintendo, but left it on pause so he could casually look over at his brother.

Hikaru was frowning to himself, lost in his own world, a faint blush warming the back of his neck that no-one else could see.

_He's thinking about that list again._

He suddenly raised his head and opened his mouth very slightly as though he was about to say something, but whatever it was seemed to get stuck and, after quickly glancing at his twin, he went back to thinking.

_He wants to ask me something, but he doesn't know how to phrase it._

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps as _someone_ walked out of the kitchen; Hikaru looked up, before hurriedly slumping back on a fist, a mad flush taking over his face.

Kaoru smirked.

_Now... he's being a pervert. How cute._

"Haruhi!" Tamaki yelled loudly, despite the fact he was a mere five feet away from her. "Behold! Your parents-" he enthusiastically motioned to Kyouya and himself, just in case she would somehow get confused, "-are here to walk you home!"

The brunette blinked before looking over at the small group lazing around the host club doors (Tamaki, Kyouya and the twins); a frown came over her face and she noticeably sighed, tucking her bag under her arm. She had just finished clearing up, so had probably expected the rest of the club to have already gone as usual.

Kaoru smiled apologetically to her unspoken complaint.

"Sorry, Haruhi." He laughed. "Hikaru and I wanted to walk with you but then because _we_ were waiting, Tono decided to _copy us_ and wait too and then because _he_ was waiting, he made Kyouya wait for _him_."

"So we all waited!" Hikaru finished with a grin.

Haruhi raised a tired eyebrow and began slowly making her way to the exit (Kaoru quickly pocketed his game, just in case she tried to make a run for it and they needed a bit of twin-power to keep her with them).

"So..." She drawled, giving them all a weary look. "I've just been tiding up and instead of... Oh, I don't know... actually _getting up_, you just decided to sit there and wait for me?"

"Yes." Kyouya stated bluntly, his crisp reply interrupting any other attempts to speak. "Now if you don't mind, I have better places to be."

Then he paused to glare at his hyper blonde friend, who was currently hovering round Haruhi like an irksome fly and whimpering that he was _very_ sorry, but he had just had his nails done and he _had_ to keep up looking beautiful ("So you see, Haruhi, I had _no choice_ but to sit there and wait for you! My manicure wouldn't allow it! You understand don't you, my beloved daughter?" "Whatever." ).

And so, with much grumbling, whimpering, and... skipping, the group began walking through the school corridors, comfortable, despite all teasing, in each other's company.

Tamaki was busy chatting about a new brand of commoner's ramen and Kyouya was busy ignoring him, so, out of the three, Haruhi was the only one who noticed how quiet and thoughtful Hikaru was being, as though he was trying to work something out.

If only to distract herself from the fact Tamaki seemed to feel the need to start composing a theme tune for 'commoner's ramen', Haruhi looked over at the oldest Hitachiin and began musing on his out-of-character behaviour.

He had been acting like this a lot lately, being 100% himself then suddenly launching into awkward bouts of deep thought and growing flustered and defensive whenever she asked him about it.

It was beginning to annoy her, especially as she seemed to _notice_ whenever he zoned out.

Since when did she do _that_?

Just as she was about to bluntly ask him what he was thinking about, Hikaru suddenly broke his silence as magnificently as he could.

"Oh my God!" Hikaru yelled madly, thrusting a finger spectacularly towards the window. "Look! It's... _Casanova doing a handstand_! In pink _spandex_!"

"_Huh_?"

Haruhi sighed and, instead of looking out the window (she wasn't _that _stupid... Tamaki however, apparently _was _and was hurriedly looking outside, leaning over Kyouya to get a better view), she gave Hikaru a sceptical look.

She noticed him hurriedly giving the others a searching glance before spinning to face her so suddenly that she blinked and quickly averted her eyes; because if he could her looking at him, he was sure to make a point of dramatically taking it _way_ out of context.

And she couldn't be bothered with that.

But instead of making some loud and obnoxious observation, Haruhi just felt Hikaru's presence step lightly over to her, as silent as... Mori. Just as she turned her head to question him, a flash of red suddenly swooped down and she felt something warm against her cheek and a finger beneath her chin.

Haruhi blinked and she faltered as Hikaru's lips clumsily brushed her cheek, gentle. He kissed her lightly for a mere second before he moved away slightly, his breath hot against her face.

* * *

_...Crap. Missed._

* * *

Haruhi froze as Hikaru quickly slinked off as though nothing had happened and he hadn't just randomly walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek while no-one was looking (the vivid blush splattered across his face begged to differ), his eyes deliberately avoiding hers.

For a second, she stared.

_What was that all about? Honestly. He's just trying to get a reaction, as usual. Baka._

_..._

_Um!_

Strangely flustered, Haruhi quickly started going through her bag, if only to hide the (admittedly very light) warmth on her cheeks that she was painfully conscious of.

_I... must have been spending too much time with Mei. Honestly, what's wrong with me? Well... As long as no-one notice-_

"Oh my _gosh_, Haruhi! Your face is pink! Are you _ill_, my darling daughter?"

_... I hate him._

As expected, everyone suddenly turned all of their attention to her as she quickly waved a hand dismissively at the 'king'; she couldn't help but notice that Hikaru was grinning delightedly at the thought of her blushing as he looked back at her (she didn't seem to register that he was still blushing madly himself).

_I knew he was just looking for a reaction. Can't he find anything better to do? Jeeze... why am I still thinking about it?_

"Let me see!" Tamaki suddenly burst into her vision dramatically, trying to plonk their foreheads together. "Stop squirming Haruhi, Daddy needs to check your temperature!"

"Get off, Sempai." She grumbled, shoving his head away from her and thanking the skies that her cheeks had calmed down (a quick recovery; Hikaru's lips wouldn't stop tingling for at least another two hours... and then he'd think about it again and they'd tingle for _another_ hour).

"But... but you might be ill!"

"Don't be stupid-"

"Are you _ill_, Haruhi?"

Haruhi (to her horror) jumped as Hikaru lent his head on her shoulder and breathed teasingly into her ear; his face was slightly pink but his eyes were sparkling mischievously, delighted at her reaction.

"Not at all, Hikaru." Haruhi answered loftily, shrugging his head off her shoulder with a uniform amount of irritation.

Tamaki shouted something loudly into her ear, still trying to find out if she had any symptoms.

Haruhi didn't hear him.

Hikaru stuck out his bottom lip in a pout and mumbled something under his breath.

Haruhi found herself trying to hear him.

_Oh God._

What was _wrong_ with her?

Kaoru watched her with a small frown.

He had been walking slightly behind the rest of the group, trying to think of what Hikaru could do next in his effort to gain Haruhi's affection, so it didn't surprise him that his twin didn't seem to notice that he had in fact, been looking straight at him when he'd swooped down on Haruhi and pecked her cheek.

Perfectly understandable.

Right.

As he'd been looking, he had clearly caught the subtle blush and the look of quiet surprise on Haruhi's face. So, obviously, that gave him something to think about.

_I wonder..._ he mused to himself, thinking back to his awkward twin and putting him together with Haruhi's reaction, rolling them around his mind like a sweet. _If I watch Haruhi... will I be able to tell what she's thinking?_

_Is Haruhi being obvious too?_

Kaoru tried to smirk as usual, he really did. But something kept a small frown on his face and he ended up having to glance away; he wanted Hikaru and Haruhi to leave their isolated world and be together more than anything in the world, because it made his twin happier than anything in the world.

But he didn't want to be left.

He was a walking dichotomy.

He wanted things to change but... change was scary.

He wanted to grow up but there he was, as childishly contradictory as ever.

Stupid.

Kaoru paused and glanced back to find Hikaru and Tamaki still stubbornly fighting over Haruhi; Tamaki was wailing something about Haruhi's 'delicate womanhood' while Hikaru was shouting back, trying to wrap his arms around her head and prise Tamaki off at the same time.

Haruhi seemed to be unusually quiet, Kaoru observed. And... Was it just him, or was she leaning into Hikaru's touches way more than what could be bluffed as coincidental? He was sure she had been doing that earlier too...

"_I swear_!" Haruhi suddenly exploded, hitting both of them round the head with one all-mighty swing (while they were still clinging to her). "If you two don't get the _hell_ off me, I'm transferring to Roberia _right now_!"

"Neh, Haruhiiii!"

"My daughter's rebelling!"

... Maybe it was just him.

* * *

Woo! :D I think this chapter's better than the last, so I'm a happy bunny. 8) I hope you all like it too! :D

-pats Hikaru's head- :3 He tried his best. Even though he missed. :D He wouldn't be Hikaru if things went to plan x)

**Thankyou to everyone who's reviewed! Bask in your own awesomeness!**


	11. Choose a Special Song

**Choose a Special Song**

* * *

Hikaru could be rude, loudmouthed and have absolutely no sense of appropriateness. Tamaki didn't really have any sense for that either, but he was sweet and caring.

Hikaru could be jealous and possessive, while Tamaki accepted and welcomed everyone.

Haruhi shouted at them both, but only Hikaru shouted back; she count on one hand the number of times Tamaki had gotten truly angry at her.

Really, it should be obvious who she should fall in love with. Really, it was obvious that she was expected to fall for the king.

She was expected to.

It was almost logical.

"Haruhiiii!"

Haruhi blinked and looked up to see the oldest Hitachiin swaggering towards her, chunky headphones looped around his neck and a lop-sided grin on his face.

"Haru, I've got a song you'll like!" He announced, an almost daring aura taking over him, despite the flustered pink flush to his ears. "Look, I picked it out; you've got to listen to it."

He proudly displayed the tiny I-pod screen to her but she merely glanced at it, not even taking in the song. It was near the end of lunch, on one of those rare days the twins didn't drag her to the canteen with them; she had finished her packed lunch early, so she had just been waiting idly for class to start, lost in her own thoughts.

Until Hikaru arrived.

"Do I have to?" She sighed, to which he stuck out his lip in a dramatic pout.

"Yes. You do." He replied firmly, swinging the headphones from around his neck so they balanced on his finger.

Showing off her total lack of interest in the song, Haruhi glanced at his huge headphones. They were black and red and had a weird, metallic design on each earpiece; not the same ones she remembered him wearing before.

"Did you get new headphones?"

For a second, Hikaru just blinked, surprised she even noticed; and then a beam broke out again and held them out proudly. "Yeah. From America. Cool, aren't they?"

"Did your old ones break?"

"Huh? No, they're at home."

"…Then why a new pair?"

Hikaru sighed, shaking his head at Haruhi's alien, money-managing ways. "'Cause, stupid, I'm not a commoner like you. And these look cooler. Duh."

Haruhi paused to frown and Hikaru instantly jumped on the opportunity and quickly slung the heavy earpieces around her neck, holding them in place so they completely covered her ears. He grinned at her for a second, totally pleased with himself, but confusion began to flicker across his golden eyes when Haruhi simply blinked at him.

"Well…" She paused again, resigned. "Are you going to play it?"

"Eh?"

Hikaru frowned and looked down at his I-pod, letting the headphones slide so they were hanging heavily around the girl's neck (_How the heck does he walk round with these?! _Haruhi thought madly to herself, her neck practically bending with their no doubt _expensive_ weight).

"Oh…" he grumbled, glaring at the device. "…stupid touch screen…" He began to flick his thumb against the screen, a determined look coming across his face as he hunted for the song again. "One…second…" he murmured, distracted.

For a second, she just watched.

What was wrong with her?

Haruhi blinked and forced her eyes to wander over the classroom, trying to take in what time it was from the huge platinum clock, mounted high in the wall. She tried so desperately to turn her thoughts to something else that she almost felt her eyes well up, but her train of thought was as stubborn as she was. She couldn't stop thinking about it.

And it was so foreign, it hurt.

Hikaru could be rude, loudmouthed and have absolutely no sense of appropriateness. But he always spoke his mind and wouldn't rest until he made her laugh if she looked down.

_What're you frowning about? I can't have our toy looking depressed!_

Hikaru could be jealous and possessive, but, to the people he had let through his emotional barrier, he was amazingly loyal and devoted.

_Kaoru's the best at it. And you Haruhi, you'll be an amazing lawyer. I'll give you a hug before every case, for good luck!_

When Haruhi shouted, Hikaru shouted back, even when no-one else did. And she wouldn't want it any other way.

_Forget studies, Haruhi. Just for a little while. You have freaking friends too._

Haruhi miserably felt her eyes being pulled to look at the oldest Hitachiin again, using all her determination to keep her face looking bored. But she had a horrible feeling she failed, and just looking unbearably blank instead.

She had to blink furiously when Hikaru suddenly looked up, beaming and catching her eye.

His grin widened impishly as he reached over and pulled the headphones over her ears again, apparently deciding she couldn't do it herself. A quick beat began to dance inside her head, blocking out all but Hikaru's faint voice.

"It's halfway through… but if you like it, I'll play it again." She heard him say, smiling sheepishly, like a child wanting to be praised but not sure whether he was going the right way about it.

Haruhi felt her eyelids involuntarily begin to flicker as she let the lyrics wash over her.

_Forgive me if I st-stutter  
__From all of the clutter in my head  
__Cause I could fall asleep in those eyes  
__Like a water bed_

It wasn't logical. Not at all. She almost regretted feeling so irrationally.

So _needing_.

"Do you like it?"

What?

Her eyelids flickered again and she saw Hikaru watching her almost nervously, his eyes soft with nerves and hope and something she didn't understand.

She didn't want to. But she couldn't help it.

She already had.

_Oh I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
__And cannonball into the water  
__I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
__For you I will_

Haruhi felt her eyes close again, if only to stop looking at the oldest Hitachiin, who seemed to play in her mind again and again, like a much-loved song.

Because, it seemed, she had quietly yet indefinitely fell for him.

"Yeah," she managed to murmur in response. "I… like it."

The way she could illogically but unquestionably see the delighted grin that would be spreading over his face without even looking almost killed her.

Haruhi Fujioka had fallen in love.

Whether she liked it or not.

_You always want what you can't have  
But I've got to try  
I'm gonna muster every ounce of confidence I have  
For you I will, for you I will, for you I will  
For you I will_

_

* * *

_

I hope Haruhi's realisation wasn't too sudden (though it did take her eleven chapters to work it out...), I'm trying to build up their emotions instead of making them like... instant. O.o (Haruhi's affection, Kaoru's confusion, Hikaru's boldness...)

So, I'm concerned about how I wrote this chapter :S Please review and tell me how I did!

Thankyou to everyone who reads this! :D


	12. Give Compliments

**Give Compliments**

**

* * *

**

It was officially the first day of winter.

Well, according to the calendar, the first day had actually been a week ago, but today was the first day the Hitachiin twins deemed it cold enough to wear coats.

Therefore, no matter what some rubbish _calendar_ said, _today_ was officially the first day of winter.

"Ne, Hikaru, why do we even bother with coats if we only walk from the car to the school?"

"That's three minutes of avoided chill, Kaoru, and you know what Tono always says. Wrap up because… 'cause… uh… well, you know."

"'Wrap up because even the handsomest of gentleman are affected by the harsh winds of winter'?"

"Yeah. That. And anyway, Mom wants us to promote the new winter range, doesn't she?"

"Great. Now I feel like a walking doll."

"At least it's not girl's clothes… Ah! There's Haruhi!"

Hikaru instantly dropped the conversation to wave madly at the short brunette, who was just crossing the school's elaborate entrance. Haruhi blinked blearily at the two and, after a short pause, waved slowly back.

"Come over here, Haru!" Hikaru yelled to her, a puppy-style grin splattered over his face as he carried on enthusiastically waving an arm.

"Ow." Kaoru mumbled, rubbing his ear and giving his brother an eye roll. "Don't yell right next to my ear like that, Hikaru."

"Heh, sorry Kaoru." Hikaru sniggered, tracing a finger delicately around the rim of his ear for the benefit of a few host club customers who had been peering over (they all fell into mad giggles of moe).

"Uh. Do you want me to walk on?" Kaoru went on, glancing pointedly at Haruhi. He looked almost weary as he blatantly ignored the older twin's prompt for their usual 'brotherly-love' dramatics.

Hikaru frowned at him and thoughtfully shoved his hands back inside the deep pockets of his (expensive) coat; Kaoru seemed to be acting rather subdued today.

_In fact_, Hikaru realized with a jolt, _he's been acting weird for a few days now. Eh, I thought he just quiet because… wait. Actually, I don't know. Why don't I know?!_

Shocked at his own lapse in his 'big brother duties', Hikaru was about to _demand _to know what was wrong when Haruhi appeared next to them, bundled up in a (cheap) coat and (an even cheaper) scarf.

"Good morning, Hikaru. Good morning, Kaoru." She mumbled into the scruffy fabric of her scarf, glancing at them both before averting her eyes and becoming very interested in a loose thread on her coat.

"G'morning." They chirped back as one (Hikaru decided that if Kaoru could 'chirp', then his 'big brother duties' could wait until that night before he wrestled the truth out of him).

As Kaoru absentmindedly picked the thread off Haruhi's coat (a habit), Hikaru blinked at her, having suddenly remembered why he had been so enthusiastic to see her in the first place.

The reason was, of course, the list.

'_Give compliments.'_

However, now he thought about it, it wasn't as easy as he first made it out to be. The challenge wasn't actually _giving_ the compliment (all of the host club members regularly launched themselves at her and yelled about how 'cute' and 'pretty' she was) but giving Haruhi a compliment she would actually take _seriously_ (as a consequence, Haruhi now ignored them whenever they told her how cute she was).

Frowning, Hikaru gave Haruhi a critical look, trying to find something different about her today that he could compliment.

_Her coat?_

But he instantly scrapped that idea as he looked disdainfully at her musky coat that was frumpy in _all_ the wrong places. As the son of a top fashion designer, he didn't think he could live with himself if he had to _compliment_ it.

_This would be so much easier if I could just say she looked cute… 'cause she does… Ah! Quit blushing you moron!_

As Hikaru mentally insulted himself, Kaoru was picking another loose thread from the offending coat, giving her a chiding look which she promptly ignored (her argument; the coat was warm and what _else _do you want a coat for?).

"Your nose looks cold, Haruhi." Kaoru randomly observed as the three made their way to the school building (Hikaru was now going through an internal list of what coat's in his mother's winter line would look good on Haruhi).

"Well, yeah." She paused to bury her face in the scarf again. "I got up too early so I decided to walk to school instead of going on the train…"

"…That sounds kinda dumb. You worrying too much about that test again?"

"Oh! Y-yeah! The math test… It's only 15 days away, isn't it? Only two weeks…"

Kaoru raised an eyebrow (both at her stuttered answer and the fact she knew exactly how many days it was until their test) when Hikaru suddenly looked up and made a noise as though he was about to announce something.

They both stared at him.

Hikaru stared at Haruhi and promptly forgot what he was saying.

"Uh… um… N-never mind…"

"…You've been quiet, Hikaru." Haruhi pointed out, unusually soft as they began slowly walking up the entrance steps; usually the older twin would be talking her ear off right now.

He made a weird half-nodding, half-shrugging gesture before glancing awkwardly at her and, feeling so expected to say something, simply blurted out the first thing that came to his head.

"I hate that coat!"

Haruhi blinked.

"What? My coat?" She looked down at it, a genuinely confused frown coming to her face. "Why?"

"It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen." Hikaru stated bluntly, before he could stop himself (Kaoru rolled his eyes).

Haruhi sighed at how _fashion-conscious _her friends were; it wasn't as if she had a particularly _bad_ fashion sense, but she rated practicality much higher than appearances. Apparently, none of her friends shared the same view. "It's not that bad." Haruhi reasoned.

And, of course, Hikaru immediately had to correct her.

"Yes it is! Where did you _get_ it?"

"Where…? I don't remember the exact shop I got it from, Hikaru. I think it was on sale somewhere last year."

"_Last year_?! You can't wear a coat after that long!"

"Why not?"

"You just _can't_!" He stared at her in frustration as she looked uncaringly down it; he suddenly vowed that he would get her better clothes if it killed him; and get her wearing them too. He knew her Father _bought_ her cute clothes… so why didn't she ever bother _wearing _them?

"I'm buying you a new one." Hikaru stated firmly.

"Please don't-"

"And a new scarf too." He added, on a roll. "That one doesn't even _match_."

Haruhi sighed again, deciding not to even bother arguing with someone who bought headphones that cost several hundred pounds on a whim. As they got into the inner foyer, she (to the twin's relief) finally slipped it off, tucking it neatly under her arm until they reached the lockers.

Hikaru suddenly remembered he was supposed to be slipping a compliment in somewhere and turned back to Haruhi, mouth hanging open as though he expected the words to come tumbling out on their own. Haruhi glanced over at him again, as did Kaoru (who had now worked out what his brother was trying to do), looking amused.

"Uh…" He began.

_I love your eyes. Your hair looks soft and smells of strawberry shampoo. Your hands are small and cute._

But none of Hikaru's observations (he couldn't help thinking that Tamaki would've thought of slighter more _elaborate_ compliments) made it fully formed to his mouth and all that came out was;

"Your hair… smells… cute…"

Haruhi blinked. "My hair smells cute?"

Hikaru's ears began to flush red as he desperately tried to save himself. "Um! Like… nice?"

"Oh." Haruhi paused to consider this (trying _not_ to wonder why Hikaru was smelling her hair in the first place) while Kaoru bit his fist to contain the peals of laughter at his twin's spluttering attempt at seriously complimenting her.

"Thank you... I think." Haruhi answered hesitantly, before, feeling obligated to, glancing back at Hikaru. "You look…" But some reason, she suddenly turned awkward and quickly glanced away again. "Uh, different. Yeah, um, I'm going to my locker now…"

And with that, Haruhi hurried off, leaving a very confused Hitachiin in her wake.

As Hikaru froze, trying to work out whether that was a compliment or not, Kaoru stared after her; he looked slightly surprised and thrown-off, as though he'd just worked something out he didn't know how to react to.

Finally his eyes darkened slightly and a small frown plucked at his lips.

Things, it seemed, had changed. Already.

But Kaoru didn't care. In fact, he _wanted_ things to change. Because change was good. For Hikaru. And for him.

Change was good. Right?

Right.

Hikaru suddenly exploded into his vision with a tragic look of desperation splattered over his face.

"_Kaoru_!" He wailed, confusion written all over him, "What does '_different_' mean? Do I have bed head?!"

Kaoru blinked. "No."

"Do I have _spots_?"

"None that I can see."

"Have I suddenly turned _ugly_?!"

"…That's not something you ask your identical twin…"

Suddenly adamant that that was the reason, Hikaru proceeded to turn on some unsuspecting girls from the twin's class and randomly demanding to know whether they thought he had suddenly turned ugly or not. And, of course, they all giddily (and with many a batted eyelash) insisted that '_you look as handsome as ever, Hikaru!_'.

Kaoru glanced at his watch and, after giving Haruhi's direction a last thoughtful look, slowly hooked a finger under the collar of his panicking brother's coat.

"Come on, Hikaru." He mumbled, tugging him away from the highly amused girls. "We're going to be late."

* * *

--That night--

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Ng…"

"…"

"That's it. Kaoru, what the hell are you thinking about?!"

"Huh?"

"I can't get to sleep if you're just lying there like that; what are you thinking about?"

"I'm not thinking about anything, Hikaru."

"Don't _lie_. I know when you're lying."

"…"

"_Kaoru!_ Jeeze, tune me in already!"

"…Hikaru… what if Haruhi likes you back?"

"Huh?"

"You'll be spending all your time with her then, ne?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I guess it's just…a weird feeling."

"She doesn't- I mean- Even if that happened, I would never leave _you_, Kaoru. Is that what you're thinking about?"

"…Ng…"

"Idiot, you're too important to me for me to _leave _you-"

"But it won't always be like that, will it Hikaru? It'll change."

"…huh?"

"You love Haruhi. A lot, right?"

"…Tha-"

"I'm only your brother."

"…Kaoru, look…"

"It's fine by me, Hikaru."

"Kao-"

"I'm going to sleep now; goodnight, Hikaru."

There was a few seconds of silence.

Hikaru sighed in complete irritation.

Kaoru suddenly felt added warmth to his bed as someone slipped under the covers; the next second his face was roughly grabbed and pulled round to face identical eyes, crinkled with a glare.

"Why are you talking like that? You were the one trying to get me to _confess _to her a few hours ago."

"I know."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"I dunno…"

"I'll never forget about you, Kaoru. You're my _twin_. I need you."

"Yeah… I'm sorry…I was just…"

"Just what?"

"Thinking…"

"Then don't think, stupid."

The corners of Kaoru's mouth twitched.

"You do realize that makes no sense, don't you Hikaru?"

"It _does._"

"What are you doing anyway?"

"I'm sleeping here tonight."

And with that, Hikaru grabbed one of Kaoru's pillows stubbornly and closed his eyes in a very final sort of way. Kaoru felt himself smile fondly.

"I love you, Hikaru."

"I love you too, so stop being stupid."

"And I'll stop that by not thinking, correct?"

"Yeah."

Kaoru laughed softly and finally fell back into bed and into his big brother's arms that opened at just the right second to envelope him.

Hikaru pulled him closer almost stubbornly and mumbled into his hair. "Some things don't change Kaoru. Never _ever_. I'll still love you even if… uh… even if…" he paused, trying to think of a wild enough example. "If you… shave all your hair off and become a monk."

"…Not likely."

"Good. I'd still love you an' all, but that would be kind of weird."

Kaoru laughed again.

He knew he was being childish; he wanted so badly for Hikaru to be with the one he loved yet the closer they became, the lonelier he felt. But it wasn't as if they had pushed him out, was it? Wasn't it the case that in fact all _three _of them had become closer? Just in different ways? Change had always been a prospect that had terrified him when he stopped to think about it, but it wasn't really a bad thing, was it?

Change _was_ good.

Well.

As long as some things _never_ changed. _Ever_.

Kaoru slowly wrapped his arms around his twin, his eyes slowly closing.

He was sure he'd find someone to love like that one day; someone he could have all to himself. But he was in no hurry. He could wait years and years and be perfectly happy as long as his twin could smile too.

That was all he needed.

He had more than enough love, right here, just like this.

* * *

**Kaoru's such a sweetie :3 I hope you don't mind how I portrayed him :s A lot of fics sort of put Kaoru on this desperate 'I must find lurve!' angsty ranmage when Hikaru gets closer to Haruhi. Not that they aren't good stories, but don't think he'd really be like that :s Maybe it's just me.**

**I hope you liked! :D And thankyou so much to everyone who has reviewed! You're the nicest, awesomest reviewers in the world! :D**


	13. Be Faithful

**Be Faithful**

* * *

"_Wait there for me, okay Haruhi? I'll be right back!"_

Haruhi frowned to herself, glancing around the classroom.

"_I've got to go, Hikaru. What do you want?"_

"_I wanna do something! Just... wait there!"_

She hesitated by the door, torn.

Since when...

_The oldest Hitachiin ran out of the door, shouting "I'll be back in a second!" over his shoulder with his trademark grin on his face._

_Kaoru winked at her before following him out, amused._

Since when did she _willingly_ wait for him?

Irritated by the illogical _want_ to wait and be around him and the logical _need_ to go shopping before it became too crowded, Haruhi glared at the empty classroom.

She really didn't know what was happening to her.

She had always been level-headed and independent, happiest in her own company... yet now she felt almost _needing_ of Hikaru, wanting him around her yet growing awkward in his presence.

It made absolutely no sense.

So, obviously, she didn't like it.

_Stupid Hikaru...._ She thought, sighing. _Why did I have to fall in love? It's too confusing._

Even at the host club, instead of hanging round the twins all the time, Haruhi was beginning to strike up random conversations with Tamaki and the other host members, just to get out of feeling so annoyingly complicated and... fluffy. Tamaki seemed to realise something was on her mind and had even toned down his usual stupid dramatics, simply chatting about university and his meetings; things Haruhi could actually give an input about.

But despite all that, here she was, waiting for him.

It was so not like her.

Haruhi frowned again and gave the room an idle glance. She really had to go food shopping... there was a one-day sale on at the supermarket today and with Mei coming over more than ever they could definitely do with stocking up...

Something suddenly caught her eye and she blinked before giving Hikaru's desk a closer look; then she sighed.

Under the chair was a few scattered papers that had obviously fell out of his bag when he hurried off to whatever he was doing now. She slowly walked up to them and, quickly placing her bag on a desk, crouched down to collect them, instantly recognising Hikaru's hurried notes for today's class on the top.

_He's so laidback..._ She observed musingly to herself, wondering mildly whether that was a criticism or not.

Haruhi didn't mean to read what was on that last piece of paper; she was planning to just collect them up and return them when Hikaru finally reappeared. But as she picked it up, she subconsciously registered what Kaoru had written on it in a teasing scrawl.

_Hikaru, do number 20! I'm sure Haruhi would luuurrvvee that one. :D_

'_Eh?'_ Haruhi blinked, and couldn't help looking at it again at where Hikaru had scribbled a response.

_Shut up!_

_I'm not actually talking... I'm writing. Duh._

_Quit writing on my list! And Haruhi wouldn't fall for that one anyway._

_But you want to..._

_No I don't! Stop writing on my stuff!_

_Stop responding then. :P_

And then the conversation disappeared into the crease of the paper. Filled with more a sense of morbid duty than real curiosity, Haruhi slowly unfolded it and found a long list, crinkled and thin, as though it was often looked at then stuffed out of sight.

Her eyes narrowed as she read the title.

* * *

'_Take a photo with them.'_

It was mostly a spur of the moment decision to complete that particular pointer on his list, but as he'd left his camera in the club room the day before, Hikaru just had to do it.

That and the fact he didn't have a single picture of just him and Haruhi.

So, obviously, he needed one.

Smirking to himself, pleased, he quickly trotted down the corridor, wondering whether he had kept Haruhi waiting long. Kaoru had already gone home, taking both of their bags and merely giving him a cheerful wave before he walked off, teasingly shouting over his shoulder to make sure he had mints.

He had even gotten into a habit of, instead of saying '_Good morning!_' like he usually did, waking him up by singing '_Good morning-are-you-going-to-confess-today?_' down his ear.

Huh.

He swore Kaoru was enjoying all of this.

It wasn't like he wasn't going to confess. He was. Honest. It's just that whenever he thought about it, he suddenly felt terrified. And worried. And kind of sick.

And if that wasn't a bad omen, Hikaru didn't know what was.

A sudden thought occurred to him and he slowed slightly, frowning to himself and he musingly shifted the camera about in his hands.

Haruhi had... been hanging round with Tamaki a lot lately.

Like at club, she didn't stand around talking to the oldest twin like she usually would and if he caught her she would subtly excuse herself from his presence and make her way over to Tamaki. She had even gone to try and drag him out of his 'depression corner' rather than staying and talking to him.

But Hikaru wasn't bothered about that at all. Nope, not at all. Haruhi would never go for that idiot, right?

They're just being friendly.

Right.

_What am I talking about?_ Hikaru sighed to himself, casually pulling a hand through his auburn hair. _I told_ _myself I wouldn't get even the _tiniest_ bit jealous anymore. Just remember what Kaoru said at club the other day..._

_..._

_What _did_ Kaoru say?_

_Something about... Tono... and jealousy... and... a... tea cup..._

Hikaru shrugged to himself, easily brushing it off as he finally reached the classroom again.

_Ne, I'll remember it later._

He burst into the room, a huge grin splattered over his face. To his delight, Haruhi was still hovering in the middle of the room, apparently waiting for him. He felt quite special.

"Hey, Haruhi!" He called, beaming at her as she turned; he noticed her face was completely blank and monotone, but he easily dismissed it as boredom and quickly held up his camera with a mighty flourish. "I wanna take a photo!" He announced in explanation, swaggering towards her in his usual manner as he distractedly turned it on. "'Cause I haven't got a picture of me and my best friend, Haruhi!"

When she didn't reply, he just gave her a mock reproachful look and added teasingly; "And I _need_ a photo of our toy, so you're totally not allowed to refuse!"

"'Take a photo with them'?" Haruhi suddenly spoke up, her voice as blank as her face.

Hikaru froze and looked up at her in confusion, thrown off.

"Huh?"

"'Take a photo with them'." She stated again, this time raising an eyebrow.

Hikaru stared at her blankly for a second before his eyes finally crawled down to her hands, instantly spotting the small bundle of his work that must of fell out of his bag; and there, right on the top, was his list, half open and completely visible.

He blanched in horror.

"I'm not a toy." Haruhi said clearly, her face still completely mask-like as she pressed his work into his arms. "I'm a person."

"No- wait- what? Haruhi, that... um..." Hikaru suddenly felt completely lost, totally confused by the 360 degree turn the conversation seemed to have taken. "Wait... What do you mean?"

Haruhi had smoothly collected her bag and was currently making her way to the door, only pausing at in the doorway to mutter; "I'm sorry I didn't realise you were playing a game."

"Wha- wait, Haruhi, that's not-!" But his words died and shrivelled in his throat as Haruhi gave him a blank glance, obviously unimpressed.

_She... thinks I'm playing game?!_ Hikaru thought wildly as he stared at her. _But I'd never- well, we used to but... that's not _now_! I've never been more serious! I..._

"That's not true!" He managed to splutter indignantly as the brunette sighed quietly. "It's not like that!"

"That's what it looks like." She stated shortly, sounding almost cold; which it _did_... if you were too oblivious and logical to think up the possibility of being loved back, that is. "Doesn't it, Hikaru?"

And that was the moment.

The moment Hikaru could confess, solve Haruhi's misunderstanding and mostly likely get what he'd been dreaming about for almost a year. All he had to do was tell Haruhi what he really had the list for. That's it.

But Hikaru was an idiot.

Idiots panic the moment they're placed in a scary situation.

Idiots turn that panic into irrational bursts of jealousy.

Idiots get irritated just because they don't know what to do.

And Hikaru suddenly proved that he was the world's biggest idiot.

"You wouldn't be getting this angry if it was your beloved _Tamaki _with the list."

There was a few seconds of silence. Haruhi tensed before she glanced over her shoulder with a look that was forcing itself so hard to stay blank that it hurt to look at.

"What's Tamaki got to do with this?"

"Well, if you make it so _obvious_ when you drool over him..." he almost sneered, his brain now apparently totally disconnected with his mouth.

Haruhi stared at him, slightly flushed and feeling scarily close to furious. She had been spending more time with Tamaki in an attempt to come to terms with her love for the oldest Hitachiin, and now he had apparently decided how she felt and was _shouting_ at her for it?

_...Bastard._

"I do _not_ drool over him. Why would I-?"

"It sure looks like you do." Hikaru interrupted her snappily, though it was more of a mumble than a shout; he had a slow frown on his face, as though he was trying to see past the fog of his possessiveness to see the word his subconscious (which sounded suspiciously like Kaoru) was screaming at him. What was it?

Haruhi's face had finally given up and crumpled in a glare, hand twitching as though she felt like re-introducing it to his face. Because she loved him, she felt angry enough to slap him. But because she loved him, she didn't want to.

_...Bastard._

In the end, she was still Haruhi.

"Well, if it annoys you so much when I have friends, you know what to do, don't you?"

"..." Hikaru didn't reply, having just worked out his own opinion for himself after his outburst. _Idiot_,_ idiot, idiot!_

Haruhi answered herself anyway.

"Stay away from me." She stated bluntly before she turned on her heel and promptly walked away.

For a second, he just stared, his notes crumpling in his tensed fists.

Finally, a look of complete and utter horror took over his face and his stomach dropped miserably in realisation.

He had just screwed everything up.

In the space of a mere ten minutes, he had screwed up and lost the one thing he had been thinking about and wishing for more than anything else in the world.

Because of his childish temper.

_...Crap._

* * *

... Please don't kill me xD I'm sorry. I could have had Hikaru confess when Haruhi saw the list but I decided to be difficult :P And uh, don't kill Hikaru either. O.o Kaoru hasn't got to him yet. –cue evil laugh-

Thank you for reading up to here and a super thank you to everyone who's reviewed! You all rock! :D


	14. Find Out What Makes The Other Sad

**Find out what makes the other sad**

* * *

So.

Kaoru had gotten over his worry about things changing.

Hikaru was maturing somewhat and was becoming bolder with Haruhi.

And Haruhi, Kaoru felt, was becoming more attached to his twin.

So.

Everything seemed to be going well.

Until however, Hikaru stormed into their room, announced that Haruhi was an _absolute idiot _and finally locked himself up in their bathroom for two whole hours, having a very violent sounding bath (taking his anger out on the water no doubt).

Kaoru was left sitting stunned on their bed.

He left him to his own devices for ten seconds…_ and he messed everything up?!_

"Hikaru! You've been in there for ages!" Kaoru yelled, sitting stubbornly on the other side of the door. "Tell me what happened! And come _out_!"

"No!"

"_No_ you're not going to come out, or _no_ you're not going to tell me what happened?"

"Nothing happened!"

"Then why have you been locked in there for _two freaking hours_?!"

"I'll stay in here for another _two freaking hours_!"

Kaoru sighed irritably and glared at the white wood of the door. His brother could be so _difficult_. Especially when he was having a full-blown strop. Something bad must have happened, as he hadn't had one of those in ages… Well. A good while anyway. So much for Hikaru maturing.

A sudden thought occurred to him and Kaoru frowned.

"Hikaru, what did Haruhi say?" he ventured, sounding almost nervous.

"Who says it has anything to do with _her_?"

_Her_, eh? Not _Haruhi_, but _her_. Kaoru sighed again.

"1. You called her an absolute idiot when you walked in, and 2. Who else would it be about?"

For a second, there was silence apart from the soft movement of water. Kaoru settled, knowing when to push it and when to let him gather his thoughts into an understandable sentence, and listened to him make ripples in the bath (which was more like a small swimming pool) that sloshed thoughtfully against the sides.

"Haruhi saw the list…" Hikaru finally mumbled, making Kaoru blink in surprise and confusion; he still couldn't understand his big brother's sulk. He always thought that if Haruhi ever saw the list, it would drive Hikaru to confess, not push them apart.

"I don't get it, Hikaru." He said truthfully.

"She… thought we were playing around with her. Like a game. Like we used to. She got all annoyed and cold and _stupid _and I got angry at her too because she didn't even _understand_." He let out in an irritated babble. "I mean, I told her it _wasn't_ like that but she didn't even believe me!"

"Did you confess?" Kaoru asked bluntly.

"Wha- … uh, no." Hikaru winced as he heard Kaoru's dramatic sigh from the other side of the door. "But I kind of… may have… mentioned Tono…"

"_Hikaru_!"

"I didn't mean to! I was annoyed!" Hikaru squawked in protest, sounding rather desperate.

At this point, a resigned Kaoru had his head in his hands, wondering how big a pit Hikaru had dug for himself. "What did you say?"

"…That… she wouldn't be angry if it was Tono with the list 'cause she… drools over him all the time."

"_Drools over him?!_"

"Well she does!" He cried in defence, with another vicious splash of water. "She's always _staring_ at him and saying how _great_ he is-"

"No. She. Fucking. Doesn't." Kaoru growled, finally at the end of his patience; the pure fact that Kaoru had swore (and if anyone ever swore, it was usually Hikaru, _not_ Kaoru), was enough to make his twin look up in surprise and pay attention.

Kaoru couldn't help it. He knew that Hikaru was possessive and jealous; they were irremovable parts of who he was, probably born from the tiny and isolated world they had grown up in and no-one could change that fact. Those same qualities made him loyal and dedicated.

But he couldn't let an unprovoked and stupid act of jealousy make a bad situation worse. He couldn't act so possessive whenever he lost his temper. That side of his love was too hard for anyone else to understand. He was going to ruin everything if he lived his life acting as childish as this and Kaoru couldn't let his twin kill himself like that.

As much as Kaoru didn't want to admit it, Hikaru needed to _grow the hell up_.

And if he needed a push to help himself, so be it.

"Hikaru, Haruhi doesn't _drool_ over Tono." Kaoru said firmly. "She's really good friends with him. They talk and joke and fight with each other like _normal _friends do. She's not going to not be friends with any other guy. Hikaru, I'm sorry, but you've got to _get over it _and stop flinging your emotions around like a little kid! Haruhi was wrong but she didn't understand! You could have _fixed it_, but you acted like a _spoilt brat_."

He paused, letting his words sink in before adding shortly; "And you still are."

There a stunned silence. Even the water was quiet.

Finally, he made out a shocked mutter of '_Kaoru…_' coming from the bathroom.

"What, Hikaru?" Kaoru snapped back, knowing that acting angry was the only way Hikaru would really _listen_ to what he was saying.

"That… was really harsh…"

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

"…Tha-"

"_Hikaru_! Do you understand?"

"…Well, yes…" For once, Hikaru didn't shout back; he still sounded stunned and rather sheepish, like a child being scolded for the first time.

"Good." The youngest twin silently let out the tense puff of air he had been holding and collapsed back against the door in a slump. "So, pull yourself together and get out of the bath. Now."

"…Okay…"

Kaoru paused and strained his ears but still didn't hear any movement from the bathroom, save for the faint hush of Hikaru's slow breathing. He was about to shout at him again (he couldn't remember the last time he had shouted this much, never mind at his _twin_) when Hikaru finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru."

He sighed. "Shouldn't you say that to Haruhi?"

"Yeah… It's just…" Hikaru floundered for a second for the right words. "I didn't mean to shout at her. I felt really bad after she left. I just…" He paused again, sounding weirdly nervous. Then Kaoru heard him take a deep, slow breath.

"I really like her, Kaoru." He whispered almost fearfully, though Kaoru _obviously_ already knew this. "I really do. I'm scared I'm gonna screw it up... you know, even more than I already have..."

For a second, the youngest twin didn't respond.

_So Hikaru wasn't just in a jealous sulk. Huh. _Kaoru frowned. _Okay, he's still being childish but…_

But Kaoru didn't feel like shouting anymore; he didn't have any more life lessons in him. He just wanted to wrap his arms around his brother and stop him hurting.

"…Hikaru, when I hear you pull the plug on your bath…" Kaoru paused almost threateningly. "...I'll go downstairs and get us a hot chocolate. Belgian. With cream. And then we'll talk about what to do about Haruhi, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Don't worry Hikaru." Kaoru went on, unable to stop trying to make him feel better. "I'll help you fix it."

Hikaru stuck out his lip and sulkily spoke the words Kaoru left hanging in the air; "...even though I'm an idiot?"

"Even though you're an idiot." Kaoru confirmed cheerily.

There was another pause. "I'm a pretty crap big brother, huh? Shouldn't _I_ be the one looking after _you_?"

Kaoru snorted, happy Hikaru seemed to have lightened up a bit. "I'll put it on your tab."

"Love you, Kao."

"Love you too, Hika."

"…"

"…You must be really wrinkly by now."

"Wrinkly? I look like a freaking prune."

And then Kaoru finally heard Hikaru pull the plug and the water begin to drain away.

* * *

Ah... hot chocolate solves everything. :3 Especially with cream. Yum. ;D Anyhoo, I'm sorry this chapter doesn't have much in it... but I felt it needed to be there. Because we can't let Hikaru go all sulky when he should be trying to make it up to her :D Kaoru on the rampage is scary, ne? O.o

And... omigod! I have over a hundred reviews for this story! That's so amazing! It really doesn't deserve it. Everyone who reviewed or just read my story is officially **amazing** :D I love you all! xD You all get a complementary Hitachiin plushie ;3

**Thankyou again! :)**


	15. Think About Each Other

**Think About Each Other**

* * *

Haruhi didn't miss Hikaru at all.

Nope.

And really, why _would _she miss him? He was just the more annoying half of the Hitachiin doppelgangers, always pestering her and getting irritated with stupid things.

She didn't miss him at all.

...

She just, you know, felt like being miserable at the moment. The two had absolutely _no_ connection.

Honest.

Haruhi sighed and slumped against her first, frowning; she couldn't even lie convincingly to _herself_. Which was never a good sign. She tried again, tapping her pen against the desk as though she was simply working on another maths equation.

She was currently sitting alone in the smallest of the school's four libraries, staring a hole straight through her maths revision papers; the test wasn't long away, but her tired mind didn't seem to be able to concentrate, as though her usual motivation for her studies had deflated slightly.

She frowned again at the thought.

Suddenly a hand appeared out of nowhere and waved in her face, causing her to start and snap back to reality. She sighed and quickly glanced up to glare at whoever had rudely interrupted her musing (like she didn't know).

As expected, Kaoru was grinning down at her, his eyes quietly laughing.

"You awake?" He sniggered, ruffling her hair teasingly. "Honestly, you've been zoning out all day." He added, almost chidingly.

"Yeah, well..." Haruhi shrugged and instantly rattled of her excuse for the day, moving her books out of the way so the youngest Hitachiin could sit down. "I'm just a bit tired."

"Obviously."

Haruhi promptly ignored the annoyingly knowing smile on Kaoru's face and went back to her work, trying to concentrate. But, unfortunately, a certain twin seemed intent on distracting her and had, apparently, grown bored after only 30 seconds of watching her work; he began making his fingers run along the top of her page, crinkling the page with each 'step'.

Sighing, she brushed his hand away but he just smirked at the challenge, and quickly moved his hand to her head, flicking his fingers round as though he was trying to make them tap dance.

And he was supposed to be the mature twin.

The key phrase being: '_supposed to_'.

Haruhi twitched and glared up at him, but Kaoru had conveniently decided to look down at her work instead, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Maybe you're getting so distracted because you've finally realised it." He observed randomly, making Haruhi jump ('_what?! Realised what?_' She thought wildly).

Kaoru paused deliberately as he withdrew his hand to prop his head up with, a playful smirk on his face as he studied her. "You've finally realised that maths is the most boring subject in the world and doesn't deserve such concentration." He clarified, eyes sparkling ('_what _else _would I mean, Haru?_').

When Haruhi only responded with a hurried eye roll before she hid back in her work, Kaoru's smile widened impishly.

"Give me an essay any day." He went on with a dramatic sigh. "All those numbers just give me a headache."

"Mm."

"Course, I'm okay, since Hikaru helps me."

"What do you actually _want_, Kaoru?"

_Sore spot? What sore spot? I don't know what you're talking about. I just feel like snapping at the moment, that's all._

The youngest twin huffed, sticking out his lower lip in a mini-pout. "What? Can't I just come and say hi to my best friend without dragging _Hikaru_ with me?" He said, pretending to sulk but deliberately putting emphasis on his twin's name.

Haruhi just replied with a dead-pan stare, unimpressed by his obvious attempts to drag Hikaru into the conversation; Kaoru however, just laughed softly before settling down again, resting his head in both hands and giving her a puppy-dog-style look.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Haruhi." He smiled. "But you can't blame me for being curious. Hikaru's a pain to deal with when he's in a mood, and I don't even get what this fight's all about."

"We're not having a 'fight'."

"Fine. I want to know what this _whatever-you-want-to-call-it-that-makes-you-two-ignore-each-other-and-Hikaru-forget-everything_ is about."

Haruhi blinked. "Eh? Now I don't get it. What's this got to do with Hikaru being forgetful?"

At her words, Kaoru's smirk instantly widened and Haruhi suddenly regretted ever asking; because when a Hitachiin had a grin that said 'I'm glad you asked Haruhi, I'm _glad_ you asked', it was never a good sign.

"Well, y'see." He began, sighing dramatically and shaking his head in his best 'woe-is-me' style. "When Hikaru's _upset_, he gets all moody and turns into a total klutz. Like this morning, he tried to put jam in his tea and milk on his toast. And we haven't harassed Tono _at all_ since you stopped talking to him. And he's forgotten his bag a grand total of _seven times_ in the last two days."

"...You counted?"

"Who do you think has to run round after him?"

Haruhi sighed again and absentmindedly resumed her pen-tapping; despite being determined to ignore Kaoru's blatant attempt to throw her into guilt, she couldn't help but... _not like_ the fact Hikaru wasn't his usual happy self.

_Which really makes no sense_, she thought irritably, _as his 'happy self' annoys me more than anything._

"I'm not having a 'fight' with him." She repeated her earlier words with delicate consideration; Kaoru's brow furrowed and he was about to complain when she began slowly speaking again. "But I'm not... a 'toy'. I don't want him to complete a stupid list just to try and get a reaction then shout at me for having friends. He's being an idiot." She paused thoughtfully before adding bluntly; "Even more than usual."

But, instead of dropping the subject, the youngest twin's smile just widened gleefully as she spoke, until he looked downright smug.

Haruhi narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Then Kaoru leaned over, until she could feel his breath tickling her ear delicately; she didn't react, but simply waited to see if there any point in what Kaoru was doing.

"Ne, Haruhi…" He breathed into her ear, his voice barely audible yet strangely intense. "Why are you so mad at Hikaru?"

_What? _Haruhi frowned to herself. _Haven't we just gone over this?_

But before she could retort back, Kaoru managed to interrupt her with a soft whisper;

"I helped too; why are you only mad at Hikaru?"

_Huh?_

"Wha-what do you mean?" Haruhi cringed as she heard her voice falter slightly.

She felt Kaoru smirk, his lips brushing lightly against her hair… and he suddenly reminded her of Hikaru.

"Well… is there some… special reason… Hikaru upset you so much?"

She stiffened.

Special reason? Like love?

Haruhi had no problem remembering the tragic moment she'd named her affection for Hikaru as love; but she didn't want to go along with that. She had decided. She didn't want to depend on someone so completely. She _didn't_. It hurt too much.

What did Kaoru know?

"Maybe…" Kaoru's voice was slightly hesitant now and before he spoke again there was a very pregnant pause. "…maybe… it's the same reason Hikaru's so upset?"

The brunette instantly froze, struck numb by the hidden implication floating on Kaoru's words. The love she so determinately ignored suddenly rose up and exploded in her mind again, like a fountain, laced with something mad and light that felt suspiciously like hope. But she barely had time to ask what the _hell_ he was talking about when the younger twin suddenly stood up fluidly, smiling casually down at her as though nothing had happened.

"Well, Haruhi, I'll leave you to your studies." He chirped (as if she could concentrate now), lazily giving her a one-handed wave as he pocketed the other hand and began to turn. "I need to go and make sure Hikaru hasn't mixed up his homework with his lunch or anything. See you at the club!"

And with that, Kaoru (feeling very much like cupid, but with cooler hair) walked off towards the exit, as laid-back as ever.

As he walked, Haruhi couldn't help but notice that the twins even walked differently; Kaoru walked carefully, glancing around him as he went. Hikaru swaggered, just looking forward and forward only.

Hikaru.

She... missed him.

Haruhi bit her lip angrily. Questions ran in vicious loops inside her head, like a pack of hungry dogs.

She thought she had fallen for him, but _how_ deep had she gotten herself entwined? Surely not to inescapable depths?

What did Kaoru _mean_ by that hesitant comment? What reason?

And, when, oh, _when_, was she going to be able to study for her maths mock exam without all this drama clogging up her mind?

_Hikaru's good at maths._

_Oh, shut up. _She snapped at her brain.

* * *

This was it. He was actually going to do it.

Hikaru was officially going to tell Haruhi how he felt.

He had to. If he didn't tell her and try to fix things now, he would lose any chance he had of winning her over. …And if he lost his nerve, Kaoru would probably punch him. In fact, there was no 'probably' about it.

"Following a list and acting stupid will only get you so far." Kaoru had told him wisely that morning (though Hikaru didn't know what he meant by that last comment. Him? Stupid? Whatever). "So don't chicken out of telling her how you feel and being yourself. ...Or else."

And that was the moment Hikaru got the 'or-I-will-seriously-punch-you' vibe. As if Kaoru was frustrated with him or something like that.

Honestly.

He had such a violent twin.

Hikaru nervously glanced in the direction of the library, where Kaoru had promised him she'd appear from.

When he said that... Hikaru suddenly realised that Kaoru seemed to help him out a lot. Okay, maybe a bit more than a lot.

_Okay_, he admitted rather miserably to himself, _maybe if it wasn't for Kaoru, I would still be wrestling with cake mix right now. It's not my fault I'm not the touchy-feely-I-know-your-feelings-before-you-do twin. Huh._

Realising he was starting to babble, he bit his lip and quickly glanced over the courtyard again, trying to look as casual as possible.

Jeeze... how _long_ did she want to take?!

The waiting was literally driving him crazy, especially with nothing but his own thoughts for company. Especially as nerves seemed to drive his thoughts into babbling internal monologues.

And he was _extremely_ nervous.

_Oh my god, _He thought wildly,_ she's gone a different way. I'm standing here like a complete_ spoon _and she's gone a different way to club. She's probably there already! Laughing at me! With Tono! Holy crap, Kaoru's gonna have to go looking for me and I'll have to pretend I got lost and she'll think I'm even _more_ of an idiot and... and... and... It's really _freaking_ cold!_

Then (thankfully), he saw her.

Haruhi had just walked into view, her short brown hair falling softly over her face as she carefully wedged a rather thick-looking book into her bag. He couldn't see her eyes but he could imagine them, huge and beautiful and swimming in thought.

Hikaru bit his lip again, feeling sick.

He loved her.

He loved the way she was the only one in the world who could tell him apart from his twin.

He loved the way she was so blunt, yet she always seemed to say just what he wanted to hear.

He loved the way he could never get bored near her, just _because_ he was near her.

Hikaru honestly adored her. He really did. And, God, he was _terrified_ of screwing it up.

She finally stepped out into the courtyard, a shortcut to the club and mere metres away from where the Hitachiin was standing, frozen against the fountain. But the low, harsh winter sun was against him and shot its piecing light straight into Haruhi's vision from behind him; she hid her delicate eyes from its glare in the crook of her wrist and quickly trotted across to the opposite hall.

He was going to have to chase her.

He unfroze.

And then Hikaru Hitachiin ran madly after her, determined to confess his love to the girl who had just decided she didn't need him.

He had one more thing to tick off his list.

* * *

:3 Hope you liked this chapter :) When I was re-reading it, I found it strange that even though we know Hikaru loves her, this is the first time he's actually thought it. Even Haruhi's got further than that. Huh. That may be stupidness on my part. T.T I should have had him think about it before...

I'd like to say another **huge** thankyou to everyone to reads my story! :D You're all so nice and supportive :3 You rock. :D I would also like to dedicate this chapter to **Mariel** (Mariel of Fantasy) who has reviewed my story since the start and helped me with grammar errors. :D And who also dedicated her awesomer-than-mine story to me. You rock so much. :3 Everyone read her awesometastic stories! :D

Hope you all liked this chapter :D I promise to update soon! :)


	16. Tell The Other Person That You Love Them

**Tell the other person that you love them**

* * *

_And then Hikaru Hitachiin ran madly after her, determined to confess his love to the girl who had just decided she didn't need him._

_He had one more thing to tick off his list._

"Haruhi! Haruhi!"

Haruhi froze for a second at the sound of the oldest twin's voice but she didn't turn; she wanted to keep walking, but something kept her feet planted firmly, just waiting.

"Haruhi!"

Hikaru finally stumbled into her view, looking flustered. She stared blankly at him and for a moment his mouth hung open like a fish, trying to form the words he wasn't sure what were.

"Uh… I, uh, I need to talk to you." He managed to get out, blinking furiously.

"Oh?" She drawled, her words carefully laced with boredom. "Well, hurry up; I'm going to be late for club, Kaoru."

Hikaru winced visibly, his brow suddenly furrowing into a glare. "Quit that." He grumbled, obviously miffed at her deliberate mix-up. "You know I'm Hikaru."

"Do I?" She paused, keeping her emotions in line before finally adding: "Then what do you need, _Hikaru_?"

Hikaru blinked and his mouth twisted slightly, uncomfortable; he wasn't one for saying he was sorry.

His twin could just tell when he was sorry; he never had to say it.

That guy, _Arai_, seemed content with the silent sorry he'd left hanging in the air; he didn't have to say it.

Haruhi was going to _force_ him to say it.

"Oh. Uh. I, uh, I wanted to apologise." He mumbled.

Haruhi stared at him silently.

_Ah, crap._

"For…for saying that about you and Tono and stuff and… shouting at you. I'm really sorry." He was planning to leave it at that, but his mouth suddenly started moving again, doing that thing where it just blurted out whatever he was thinking without his brain's permission.

It did that a lot.

"And I didn't mean to get so angry and annoyed at you but I couldn't help it; I really... I mean, I know that's a pretty lame excuse but… I'll try harder. I will. I promise. And…"

His words trailed off into an expecting silence and Hikaru racked his brains madly, painfully conscious of the flush warming his ears. And? And _what_?

"I forgive you, Hikaru."

But her words were so monotone and expressionless that he cringed before glancing up at her guiltily.

Then he stared.

Haruhi showed her emotions subtly; a small smile or a flash of emotion dancing behind her eyes were basically all you got, unless it was some sort of _special occasion_.

Hikaru knew this.

So he looked away from the crafted mask of indifference on her face and looked straight into her eyes.

And what he saw confused him.

Her eyes looked strangely upset and a faint conflicting war of emotion seemed to taking place, causing her usually bright eyes to droop slightly, tired. One of their classmates wouldn't have noticed it.

But Hikaru _knew_ her.

He found himself intrigued, leaning forward slightly for the pure mystery of her eyes.

"Haruhi…" He murmured, watching her eyes carefully, despite still being flushed slightly pink. "Would you… be angry if I held you?"

Instantly, her eyes seemed to widen slightly and the faint shadow of a blush warmed her cheeks.

Hikaru was fascinated.

"What are you talking about, Hika-"

"Would you be angry if I held your hand?"

This time, Hikaru was_ certain_ he saw her blush (very slightly of course; nothing next to the full blown '_Hikaru_' blush).

A slow smirk spread over his face and a certain feeling of devilishness came over him. For the past few days he'd been simply dancing around her, cautious of every little thing he said; now, suddenly, his reputation and nature of being the worst of 'little devils' came back to him, albeit with ears as red as his hair.

"Would you," He breathed, "be angry if I kissed you?"

"Yes I _freaking_ would!" Haruhi finally blurted, angry in her uncharacteristically flustered state. "Move it Hikaru, Kyouya'll add to my debt if I'm late."

But the oldest twin refused to move, apart from to shift in front of her again when she tried to leave. He suddenly felt very devil-may-care; if he was going to confess anyway, why not totally throw himself at it?

He _was_ a Hitachiin after all.

"How do you feel about me, Haruhi?" He heard himself saying, surprised but delighted at his own boldness.

Haruhi paused for a split second, trying to ignore the cluster of confusion and possible responses spinning around her mind. "I think you're an obnoxious brat." She stated, harsh in her bluntness. "Now, move."

"No." Usually Hikaru would throw himself into a sulk at her words but then he remembered Kaoru specifically telling him to push her.

And Kaoru _did_ seem to have a feel for these things.

"How do you feel about me, Haruhi?" He repeated, determined.

Haruhi was frozen. She honestly had no idea what to do. She'd gone through her whole life studying, going by whatever she found in books and immersing herself completely in her work; she was thrown off and confused by the sudden warmth she felt in her chest as Hikaru stared a hole through her.

Did she confess or deny it?

Did she run or stand her ground?

Did she let herself depend on the most dependant person she knew?

_I don't know what to do._

"What would you say…" He continued softly, blushing again (Haruhi randomly realised that Hikaru seemed to blush a lot) and taking a nervous breath. "…if I said I like you? That I really, _really_ like you?"

"…That would depend." Haruhi muttered, surprised by how steady her voice was. "On whether it was true or not."

"What if... it was very, very true?"

Haruhi's usually stoic face suddenly crumpled; she firstly didn't have a _clue_ what she was doing, and now she felt like Hikaru was simply teasing the subject, saying things in such a roundabout way that her tired mind didn't feel up to working it out. There too many _what-if_s.

"What are you going on about, Hikaru?"

"That's kinda obvious by now, dummy." Hikaru smiled, fond and slightly sheepish, instead of getting irritated as he usually would. "I really like you, Haruhi. That's why I had that list. And…" He suddenly frowned, worriedly. "And I want to know if you see me in that way at all, even if it's just the tiniest bit. Even if it's just a little."

Worry of how she should act and confusion of how she felt span round until Haruhi's naturally blunt personality finally took over, as though it had decided she had drowned long enough. Hikaru's words, and the rush that suddenly fizzed up her brain, seemed to simplify everything.

"I depend on you." She murmured, brow furrowing. "More than I do for anyone else. I want you near me all the time. And," The frown became more pronounced as she stared straight at him, in that way she always did. "I hate it."

Hikaru blinked, a little lost, not sure whether he was supposed to be happy or not.

_So… she likes me? But she hates that she likes me. Or she likes me _and_ she hates me. Or… she… wait… what?_

"Um." He stated intelligently.

Haruhi waited quietly, feeling rather subdued and confused, for Hikaru to think his way through it; finally a mirror image of her frown appeared on his face.

"You hate feeling so dependant? But…"

Hikaru suddenly seemed to get what she was saying and a wondering look came over his face; for he, more than anyone, knew about two people leaning on each other equally and completely. He'd done that his entire life.

"But it's a two-way thing, Haruhi." He said, a growing smile tugging at his features. "You depend on someone but they depend on you too. You lean on them and they lean on you. You're not independent just because you have no-one there to catch you. I think…" His smile had turned into a full-throttle beam at Haruhi's uncertain yet enthralled face. _So cute_. "You couldn't get out of being independent even if you tried. That's just _you_, Haruhi. Even if…" He paused a little nervously. "…even if you found someone you can depend on."

_Like… me? Maybe?_

Hikaru watched her carefully (feeling rather chuffed at his Kaoru/Tamaki-like speech and making a mental note to tell Kaoru about it later) as Haruhi paused thoughtfully.

Finally, he grew impatient of her lingering silence and he lent forward slightly, a sheepish but very _Hikaru_-like grin plastered over his face.

"Haruhi, would you go out with me?"

Haruhi blinked before a slow but genuine smile spread over her lips, causing her to feel lighter than she had for days; she still didn't really know what she was getting into but maybe it was better that way. Hikaru's prior words suddenly floated back to her.

"_We'll…improvise! It's the best way to do things!"_

She opened her mouth (ready to say what the oldest twin was desperately begging to be a 'yes') when a random thought occurred to her and she paused, frowning in thought.

"Huh." She muttered. "I won't be able to be your girlfriend."

Hikaru instantly froze in complete horror.

_Wha-wait…what?! I thought she said she liked me?! Have I just been reading _everythingwrong_?! Does she hate me?! Omigod, Haruhi hates me! Rejected! Wahhh! Kaoruuu!! Nooooooo!!!_

"I mean," She continued thoughtfully, completely oblivious to Hikaru's internal, babbling fit. "Everyone at school thinks I'm a boy…so we'll have to keep it a secret?"

"Eh? Wha-what?" He stared at her weakly, suddenly completely lost.

Haruhi stared back, looking slightly confused simply because _he_ was confused. "You alright there, Hikaru?"

"_Eh?!_ Wh-what are you going on about? You… you want to be my boyfriend instead?" A mad giggle suddenly escaped his lips as he looked down at her in exasperation. "God Haruhi, you really confuse me sometimes… do you like me or not?"

"Yeah. I guess I do."

"So you'll go out with me?"

"Sure."

"Wait... you do know what we're talking about don't you? Like, I want-"

"I'm not an idiot, Hikaru."

And then Haruhi beamed, smiling wider (and cuter) than Hikaru ever seen her; _must be a special occasion_, he thought gleefully as he reached forward.

* * *

On the first floor of Ouran academy, a teenage boy was hiding, looking over a courtyard through a shock of orange spiky hair.

Below him, he could see a couple standing close in the shadow of a beautiful fountain, both speaking words too faint for him to hear. As he watched, the taller one suddenly grabbed the brunette's wrist and pulled her firmly to him; his arms captured her there and held her as he buried his face into her short chocolate hair.

A pleased smirk spread across his face when he saw the girl gently return the gesture.

"Mission accomplished." He quietly reported to himself, dodging away from the window. "Hikaru _so_ owes me."

And with that, the redhead strolled away, glancing fondly behind him and trying to think of a reasonable excuse about why they would be missing two hosts today.

* * *

"…Haru…"

"Yes, Hikaru?"

"Now you're my girlfriend-slash-boyfriend… can I spoil you?"

"Spoil me?"

"Yeah! Can I randomly buy you expensive presents?"

"Definitely not."

"Can I send you giant tuna every day?"

"Tempting… but no."

"Can I give you designer clothes just 'cause I feel like it?"

"No way."

"…Huh. You're such a mean girlfriend, Haruhi."

"Whatever."

* * *

-dies- Ugh. Writing confession scenes.... trying to keep in character... keeping corniness under control... so hard. D: I think I may have died several times while trying to write this chapter. X.x I wanted it to be cute and show their development but.... ugh. I may have failed. Slightly epicly. I apologise. T.T I also apologise for the random conversation at the end too. xD I just imagined that happening and couldn't help myself. :3

Please tell me how you think I did :D Do you think Hikaru should have said that he loves her insted of just 'I really really like you'? :s I dunno. I heard somewhere that they would be more likley to say 'I like you' in a confession so I just went with that. :S

And thank you to everyone who's taken notice of my story. You all rock so much and never fail to make me smile. :D

Only one chapter left... -Le gasp- O.o


	17. Kiss When Other People Are Looking

**Kiss When People _Are_**** Looking**

* * *

Hikaru and Haruhi were officially a couple.

So, naturally, Kaoru (who hadn't been pushed away at all) was having the time of his life.

"Ah, Hikaru, aren't you dressed yet? Haruhi's here already."

"_What?!_"

"Hey, Haruhi, ever fancy a threesome?"

"Shut up, Kaoru."

"Why are you blushing, Hikaru? Having _perverted_ thoughts about Haru-"

"_N-No!_ Shut it!"

Kaoru sniggered as he dodged Hikaru's half-hearted tackle; he couldn't remember the last time he had got to tease his brother this much. _Well_, he mused as he smirked at the giant red blush Hikaru had morphed into (which begs the question; what _had_ he been thinking about?), _it was Hikaru's fault. He shouldn't react so much and make it so fun._

Haruhi was harder to drag a reaction out of, but that made the occasional blush or flustered comments all the sweeter.

He wasn't one of the 'little devils' for nothing.

"Where _is_ my little sister anyway?" Kaoru wondered aloud, looking around as he made his way over to the sofa Hikaru was sulking on (he had gotten into the habit of refusing to call Haruhi anything but 'Little Sister', much to her annoyance).

"Getting a book out of the library. _Again_." Hikaru mumbled in response, frowning as though this was somehow out of character. "Dunno where everyone else is though..."

Kaoru snorted as he flopped down next to him. "That, my dear brother, is because you have a one-track mind. Chika and Satoshi are _always_ late on Fridays because of training and Kyouya and Tono said _yesterday_ that their class have a mock exam today so they'll probably be late."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

The younger twin suddenly blinked, as though a thought had randomly occurred to him, and he turned to grin at his brother who was frowning to himself, trying to remember when Kyouya and Tamaki had actually said that.

"Hey... Hikaru?"

"Mm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

In reply, Hikaru just turned and stared blankly (and slightly suspiciously) at him through his orange bangs.

Kaoru leaned closer, causing Hikaru to narrow his eyes at him.

"Ne, Hikaru, despite being on a few dates... and I use that term extremely loosely..." (More like _study_ dates to help Haruhi with her preparation for the maths test... but that was out of the way now, and, thanks to Hikaru, Haruhi had done very well so he was hoping they'd manage something a bit more _romantic_ next time.) "You and Haruhi haven't actually _kissed_, have you?"

Hikaru's ears instantly flushed and he glared back at him. "You know, Kaoru," He suddenly spoke up, almost conversationally. "You've become quite evil. I think you've been spending too much time with the dark lord."

"Too much time with _you_ more like. Anyway, answer!"

"_Jeeze_, like I wouldn't _tell_ you!"

Kaoru's grin widened.

"Well then, I've got a present for you." He told him teasingly, chuckling when he instantly captured the whole of Hikaru's attention (a present to do with the fact he hadn't kissed Haruhi? More than enough to pipe his interest). Kaoru brought the 'present' out from behind his back with a mighty flourish, letting it hang in front of Hikaru's face.

"Ta-dah!" He exclaimed for effect.

For a second, Hikaru just blinked at it.

Then a much more familiar devilish smirk spread over his face.

"Mistletoe?" He snorted. "How corny, Kaoru."

"It _is_ the last week before Christmas."

"I mean," The oldest twin purred, feeling on much more comfortable ground (flirting suggestively with his little brother?). "If you _wanted_ a kiss, you could've just asked."

"Oh, yeah." Kaoru rolled his eyes, moving the plant back slightly as though he was threatening to take it away (Hikaru quickly grabbed it). He smirked. "Like _I'm_ the one you want to kiss."

Despite the flustered blush warming his cheeks, Hikaru grinned and glanced over at where Haruhi usually sat to entertain her costumers.

"I do love my little brother."

"So you should."

His grin widened as Tamaki and Kyouya noisily made their entrance, making him look remarkably like a Cheshire cat.

_I'm going to kiss Haruhi! For real!_

* * *

He hadn't got to kiss Haruhi.

Even though he had spent the whole twenty minutes before their costumers arrived ordering his legs to move over to her and boldly hold out the mistletoe, he... hadn't quite managed it. Even when she had smiled at him, all he did was smile back (at that point, Kaoru had an urge to hit him over the head).

And now it was suddenly after club and Kyouya was going through what the meeting days were going to be next week, which was always a cue that they could go home.

And he still hadn't done anything.

_Kissing. Couples do it all the time. And I _am_ due a first kiss._

_Exactly._

_Though if she doesn't want to… I'll look a bit of a pervert._

_But I could bluff my way out of it._

_But she'll think I'm a pervert. And maybe she'll break up with me!_

_Don't be stupid!_

_She _will_!_

_If I can't even do this, Kaoru'll never let me hear the end of it!_

_Good... wait. I'm getting serious déjà-vu. Have I been through this before?_

And then Hikaru got totally side-tracked, trying to remember where the déjà-vu was coming from.

Sigh.

Haruhi paused and looked over at the oldest Hitachiin through worried eyes; he was hovering rather aimlessly in the middle of the room, frowning to himself as though he was deep in thought. He had been acting kind of strange since she had come back from the library, awkward and unusually pensive.

Before, Haruhi wouldn't really care.

Unfortunately, now she did.

"Hey, Hikaru?"

He instantly jumped and blinked furiously, as if he was just waking up from a dream. He turned to look at her sheepishly, _slightly_ flustered at the x-ray look he was getting.

_Oh my god_, he thought wildly to himself, _she can see into my mind_. _She thinks I'm a pervert! That's her 'I'm-about-to-break-up-with-you-because-you're-a-pervert' face! Omigod!_

He braced himself.

"Uh... y-yeah, Haruhi?"

"Is something wrong, Hikaru? You've been acting weird."

_Ahh... maybe not._

"Uh..." He tried to laugh it off, slightly failing at his attempt to be cool and nonchalant. "Have I?"

"Yes." She stated, as blunt as ever.

"Heh..."

"..."

"Um... no, nothing's wrong, Haru- _OW_!"

And then Hikaru turned to glare viciously at his twin, who had apparently gotten tired of his dancing round the subject and had thought throwing a pencil at him would help in some way. Kaoru however, (acting oblivious to Hikaru's glare and rather sore-looking ear) simply struck up a conversation with Kyouya, with what looked suspiciously like a smirk on his face.

'_Idiot brother...'_ both twins mused to themselves.

Haruhi looked over at Kaoru with a raised eyebrow, wondering silently whether she should even bother asking what that was all about. She then returned her glance to her boyfriend, to find him staring back at her intensely, a hand in his jacket pocket and his lips fluttering silently around words.

He looked like he had suddenly forgotten how to speak.

In reality, he was just trying to work himself up.

_Right, right. Do I _want_ to kiss her? Yes. Is it _really_ that perverted? No, not really. I can think of plenty other things that would be way more... Oh-my-freaking-God-why-do-I-have-such-a-dirty-mind?!_

"...Hikaru?"

_3...2...1..._

In a burst of Hitachiin-style determination, Hikaru leant forward slightly and grinned, going for the '_if I look cool and collected on the _outside_, they won't know I'm completely freaking out on the _inside' routine.

"Hey, Haruhi, you know we're going out and everything..."

"Well, obviously."

"And I really like you..."

"I know. I like you too. So, where are you going with this?"

"I want you to kiss me."

The club instantly seemed to freeze and tense, as everyone's attention suddenly swirled on the couple and Hikaru's 'sudden' request (which makes you wonder, had they all been eavesdropping the whole time? No privacy, I tell you. None at all). Haruhi's eyes widened slightly and she just looked at him, a subtle blush tinting her cheeks.

A few seconds past.

Hikaru realised what was going on and froze in complete horror.

_Oh, crap... I forgot the _freaking_ mistletoe! Now, instead of looking like a romantic pervert, I just look like a perverted pervert! Crap, crap, crap. I can't just shove it at her now! I blame _you_, Kaoru! Crap!_

Tamaki, of course, was the first one to break the silence.

With a full-throttle scream.

"Mother, _mother_!" He yelled, practically shrivelling in dismay. "_Did you hear that?!_ You- you promised not to corrupt her, _Hikaru_! You said you'll be _good_! She isn't _old enough _for that! You are corrupting my poor innocent daughter! You're splashing mud on her _pure_, _unblemished_ mind! _Desist_! The perverted tendrils of your mind are-"

But they never found out what the 'perverted tendrils' of Hikaru's mind were doing (not that any of them were really paying attention anyway), because, at that second, something happened which caught everyone (especially the two involved) off guard.

Haruhi stretched up, and kissed Hikaru right on the lips.

With no mistletoe involved.

For a second, the oldest Hitachiin froze, his heart the only thing reacting to the fact Haruhi was right in front of him, clumsily pressing her soft lips against his. Then a tentative hand reached up and lost itself in her short brown hair, keeping them locked together for a few more stolen seconds.

He pressed his lips firmly against hers, kissing her gently until they moved apart slightly, breath misting together.

Suddenly they jerked apart, both looking surprised and slightly stunned at the not-very-long-but-_felt_-like-a-very-long kiss.

Hikaru (in the shocked phase before he jumped right to the top of the giddiness scale) wondered why Haruhi looked so surprised, as she _had_ kissed him first.

Haruhi (in the shocked phase before she became uncharacteristically flustered) wondered why Hikaru looked so surprised, as he _had_ just kept her locked there.

Kaoru resisted the urge to wolf whistle.

Kyouya made a note.

Satoshi gasped, starry-eyed.

Chika wondered what the hell he was doing there.

Tamaki froze, turned to dust, realised he had to stop his daughter from becoming corrupted and quickly regenerated.

"What are you _doing_?!" Tamaki exploded in a fit of horror (he of course, knew they were going out and was happy about it as Haruhi wasn't miserable anymore, but....). "Mother! Hikaru is forcing our daughter to do things she isn't old enough for! He's trying to corrupt her innocence! Police! Sexual harassment! _Police_!"

"I think I'm going deaf..." Chika grumbled to no-one in particular as he glared at the king, totally unaffected by the atmosphere. "Remind me why I joined this pointless- _ow_!"

And then Satoshi, still starry eyed (he had a secret love for drama), proceeded to hit him over the head, not even having to look round.

Tamaki, realising no-one was actually paying attention (not even his beloved... ahem... 'wife'), stuck out his lip in a dramatic, _woe-is-me_ sulk and sidled over to his corner, muttering something about 'evil doppelgangers' and 'marriage counselling'.

Kyouya however, was the only one who noticed and merely commented on it with a sigh before he went back to more interesting matters; namely, his notebook.

Satoshi and Chika were showing off what great friends they were by having a whispered argument about the importance of _drama_ and Kaoru's attention was totally taken up by his brother and Haruhi (the thought 'maybe I should give them some privacy' easily ignored), who were just getting over the 'shocked' phase (weirdly, at the same time).

An actually _noticeable_ flush warmed the normally stoic girl's cheeks and she, painfully conscious of it, quickly turned on her heel to hide it and walked over to her school bag, ignoring Hikaru, whose face had been taken over by an equal measure of mad blush and delighted (and pretty goofy-looking) grin.

Not about to let her get away, Hikaru swaggered after her and let his head rest on her shoulder as she made sure she had everything in her bag.

"Embarrassed?" He breathed teasingly into her ear (like he could talk).

Haruhi paused and glanced round to smile slightly at him; Hikaru noticed with disappointment that her (much cuter) blush had already somewhat calmed, while his was still turning his ears into tomatoes.

"Not really." She said bluntly, her small smile widening slightly as she pushed his head off her shoulder so she could collect her stuff properly. "Was that your first kiss, Hikaru?" She added innocently.

Hikaru promptly choked and almost fell over at her observation, to which she smirked (slightly... Hitachiin like. They were a bad influence). Possible responses ran through the oldest twin's mind in a flustered blur.

Option one: Bluff and make out as though you've kissed loads of girls before and act like a total prat, but at least regain some manly pride.

Option two: Tell the truth and be mature, but throw that pride out the window and show off how inexperienced you are.

Hikaru decided to go for option three.

Blurt out the first comment that comes to your head and hope for the best.

"Tha... but... you... _your first kiss was with another_ _girl_!"

"Yeah, but I don't really care."

"Sh-shut up."

Haruhi rolled her eyes and laughed slightly, causing Hikaru (like the goofball we all know he is) to pause then grin back, too infected by Haruhi's laugh (and the fact he had just kissed her) to stay sulking.

"But you know," He started, his giddy mood affecting his _mouth_-control. "I wasn't just going to _tell_ you to like that. I was going to be a bit more... err... subtle." He paused before dramatically adding; "I had mistletoe."

She snorted, giving him a bemused look. "Mistletoe? How corny, Hikaru."

"Yeah." He stuck his tongue out, still grinning and apparently delighted that their initial response was exactly the same. Suddenly his smile turned sheepish and almost daring. "I guess I don't need mistletoe, huh?" He added in a low voice, to which she rolled her eyes and promptly ignored him.

Tamaki glanced miserably at them; he was now hovering around Kyouya like a lost puppy, having gotten bored sitting ignored in his corner.

He was happy for them. He was happy because they were happy, and that's all that mattered to the Host club's king.

He was sure the protectiveness and slight ache would fade eventually... it was... what was it.... ah, yes.

_Empty nest syndrome_.

Perfectly normal for a parent such as himself. He glanced sympathetically at Kyouya, their esteemed 'mother'. He was sure he was getting it too, if it affected _him_ this much. Yes, yes! Kyouya was simply _hiding_ his motherly love under that bored look.

Tamaki was almost making himself tear up at the thought.

_Poor Kyouya..._

He was about to launch himself at his best friend, for what he felt would be an extremely well-received hug, when Hikaru's words suddenly floated over and his _fatherly instincts_ caused him to freeze and glance over at the pair suspiciously.

"Ah, uh...but!" Hikaru was spluttering, looking in a sudden panic (Haruhi had apparently missed something and was giving him a completely blank look). "I mean, I will... I mean.... I'm sure I'll... be, err... romantic somehow. I mean! I'm not gonna go round demanding for kisses like that and...err!" His face was now completely red in a monster blush, born of panic, fluster and the fact he could clearly _hear_ Kaoru laughing uncontrollably.

Haruhi stared at him, thoroughly bemused, and finally interrupted his alarmed babble (he was just spluttering something about mistletoe) with a snort of laughter (which did nothing to help his slightly mortified blush).

"Don't worry about it, Hikaru." She snorted (in a very lady-like manner).

"Ah...um, but-" He frowned at her, looking genuinely worried, as though he thought she would run off if he got the slightest thing wrong (which he _is_ prone to doing).

"I'm sure you can work up to being _romantic_." She scoffed, still smiling slightly.

The comment caused him to start, and he paused before a slow smirk hesitantly took over his face.

His ears still flushed, the Hitachiin bent down so their noses were only an inch apart. The fact that Tamaki couldn't hear what the oldest 'devil' twin whispered to her was the last straw.

He was losing his daughter. And she was being _corrupted_.

"You two are siblings!" He yelled with a dramatic point, drawing their attention and falling back on his 'family' structure in one last futile attempt to 'save' his daughter. "_Brother and sister_! Restrain yourselves!"

But in response, Hikaru just swapped a devilish smirk with his twin before daringly draping his arms around Haruhi's neck.

"I seem to have a thing for incest, don't I?" He purred.

Haruhi rolled her eyes in bemusement and smiled slightly as Hikaru happily began to nuzzle the side of her neck.

Tamaki fainted.

* * *

**The End**

* * *

And now we begin the never ending debate... who made the first move? xD Kaoru'll never let him live 'she-had-to-kiss-_you_-first' down. XD

O.o I can't believe I actually wrote 'the end'. I've never finished a story longer than two chapters before xD How weird :3 I'm gonna miss this story... it was really fun to write, so I hope to write more Ouran _–cough- HikaHaru –cough-_ later. ;D

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed or just read my story. You're all so amazingly nice and supportive, I could gush about you all forever. :3 I know this isn't the best story so it makes me so happy when people say they like it :) Thank you so much! :D

**I hoped you liked the final chapter ^^ -Throws cookies-**


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